[newyankee]

I wonder if there is a project where a cheaper hospital for a third world country can be created by using tech which is old but not covered under current IP (expired patents).

I mean i believe stuff like MRI cannot be manufactured by non large manufacturers but what about all other machines.

My guess is the bottleneck would be no one except current manufacturers make it at scale to do it cheap enough. It would be a great project to have though.

When i look at the prices of certain devices it just boggles my mind. It is crazier when one realizes that some of these are not even patent protected.

[kick]

Most developing countries are free to ignore intellectual property laws.

[newyankee]

Anecdotal story: Once upon a time Software piracy was rampant in India. However in my city a coalition of software cos joined hand with local law enforcement and did unscheduled raids on facilities like some educational institutions suspected of piracy. It turned out in one place money authorized for software licenses were absorbed by the procurement dept (1 person) and he installed pirated software instead.

[bilbo0s]

I think you may be misapprehending the implication HN user "kick" may be making.

I think "kick" means that there are developing nations that don't care about IP law. The authorities in these nations are not going to help anyone arrest anyone. In fact, in some developing nations, the authorities may actually be the ones infringing the IP.

I know for a fact this is the case in Cuba.

Of course Cuba's doctors are world renown, but just how do you think their health system gets those kinds of world leading medical outcomes under a comprehensive blockade for over 60 years with no access to medications or healthcare technology? It's not only due to Cuban doctors inventing novel procedures and medications. (Which is admirable). It's also due in no small part to the Cuban state flagrantly ignoring IP. And Cuban doctors will infringe IP without hesitation if they think it will help their patients. So when Cuban doctors show up in West Africa to contain Ebola, or in East Africa for SARS, or in Italy for Coronavirus, or etc etc etc, the host nations likely don't ask a whole lot of questions about whether or not certain equipment or medications they have with them infringe patents.

Please don't misunderstand, I don't believe what the Cuban medical community does is wrong at all. They've got a patient, and they see themselves as pure doctors and not beholden to commercial interests where patient safety is concerned. Good on them. I'm just pointing out that "kick" is right, there are a lot of developing nations out there who simply ignore IP. Cuba is just one of the more famous examples.

[newyankee]

But i think what is going to happen is that in the reverse globalization process that is possibly going on, countries will pressurize other countries to safeguard their IP and enforce it in more serious ways.

I really wish healthcare gets decoupled from typical capitalism (money at all costs) to more regulated version (10% margin over 10 year, IP sharing ) or something like that over the next few years or decades. I guess mistrust between countries means it won't happen.

[ianmcgowan]

Sounds eerily similar to a key plot point in Walkaway [1]. Except there it was not the 3rd world, but people walking away from 1st (default) world. The IP was originally public domain/govt. funded in the book though (you could make an argument that a lot of new research patents have govt. funding in there somewhere, depending on how basic you want to go).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkaway_(Doctorow_novel)

[kevin_thibedeau]

The Airon ventilator Ford is teaming up on is only produced thrice daily. Being mechanical only it should be easier to ramp up production and testing with less need for externally sourced parts.

[adammunich]

I'm almost ready to publish something like that, finishing up the documentation tonight hopefully.

[newyankee]

for ventilators or in general ?