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TheodoreSmith-FirstPaper 5 - 30 Oct 2008 - Main.TheodoreSmith
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THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS
| | | Enablement and Scanning Electron Microscopes | |
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< | Advances in the atomic level manipulation of matter have brought modern science to within striking distance of the ability to manually construct novel molecules from their constituent components. In a XXDATEXX paper, XXAUTHORSXX detail the ways in which technicians may manipulate a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to sever and reform atomic bonds, reposition atoms, and manipulate molecular structures to form novel organic molecules. Although this technology is still in its infancy, the manual construction of molecular compounds is undeniably possible, and one day may become trivial with further advances in equipment and scientific technique. In the last XXX years, the state of the art in atomic manipulation has moved from the painstaking repositioning of Xenon molecules, to the _; it is merely a matter of time before the construction of complex molecular compounds becomes scientific reality. Once techniques for systematically fabricating chemical compounds enter the scientific mainstream, the enablement of any sufficiently well described molecule becomes trivial (or at least may be rendered trivial by the development of a computer algorithm capable of generating enablement steps from chemical diagrams). Once this point is reached, any novel compound could be placed in the public domain simply through public online publication of its chemical structure and build routine; an extensive database of permutations of chemical forms would provide a legal basis on which to invalidate new compound patents. | >
> | Advances in the atomic level manipulation of matter have brought modern science to within striking distance of the ability to manually construct novel molecules from their constituent components. In a 2002 paper, Hla and Reider detail the ways in which technicians may manipulate a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to sever and reform atomic bonds, reposition atoms, and manipulate molecular structures to form novel molecular structures. Although this technology is still in its infancy, the manual construction of molecular compounds is undeniably possible, and one day may become trivial with further advances in equipment and scientific technique. In the last 19 years, the state of the art in atomic manipulation has moved from the painstaking repositioning of Xenon molecules, to the breaking and reforming of bonds within a molecule itself; it is merely a matter of time before the construction of complex molecular compounds becomes scientific reality. Once techniques for systematically fabricating chemical compounds enter the scientific mainstream, the enablement of any sufficiently well described molecule becomes trivial (or at least may be rendered trivial by the development of a computer algorithm capable of generating enablement steps from chemical diagrams). Once this point is reached, any novel compound could be placed in the public domain simply through public online publication of its chemical structure and build routine; an extensive database of permutations of chemical forms would provide a legal basis on which to invalidate new compound patents. | | | Other forms of Patent Protection
A database of structures and build routines would have the effect of placing many future compound patents into the public domain. Instructions enabling the individual construction of organic molecules could also be argued to invalidate future “purification” patents on molecules within the database; enabling the construction of an individual molecule would have the effect of enabling (very small-scale) production of purified forms of the compound, and would prevent corporations from later claiming that they had newly purified extant substances. | |
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< | The type of enablement database described in this essay would have no effect on two alternative forms of patent protection: the use patent, and the production patent. The use patent provides exclusive rights over a particular use of a compound, regardless of the legal ownership of compound itself. A corporation asserting that it had discovered a new use of a molecule in the database would have the ability to apply for a use patent governing the right to use that particular molecule for that particular purpose. Although use rights are far more limited and difficult to enforce than patents on the compound itself, there is nothing fundamentally ???????? | >
> | The type of enablement database described in this essay would have no effect on two alternative forms of patent protection: the use patent, and the production patent. The use patent provides exclusive rights over a particular use of a compound, regardless of the legal ownership status of the compound itself. Although use rights are far more limited and difficult to enforce than patents on the compound itself, there is nothing fundamental to the nature of the database itself that would prevent this type of patent. | | | The enablement database would likewise have no effect on production patents – methods of synthesizing or otherwise producing the molecule. Although the particular production steps in the atomic level build routine would be in the public domain, commercially viable methods of manufacturing the molecule would be available for patent protection. | |
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< | Neither of these alternate forms of patent protection would be diminished or eliminated by the existence of a public enablement database; however, a public alternative | >
> | Neither of these alternate forms of patent protection would be diminished or eliminated by the existence of a public enablement database; however, a public commons could easily be created within a public internet database, simply by adding wiki-like features to the site itself. By providing a place for the posting and discussion of uses... | | |
Technical and Legal Issues to be Overcome |
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