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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 22nd, 2023

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  • I disagree with your view on IP, at least for pharmaceuticals. For most drugs, the exclusivity period is only 5 years, after which generic companies reverse engineer the product with ease and create a low-cost alternative. Without this period allowing pharma companies to make their money, there’d be no reason to invest the billions upon billions of dollars into R&D to discover and develop the drug in the first place. Most drug candidates fail, and the wins are what prop up the whole industry.

    I’m not defending price gouging and I think all governments should control pricing, preferably with a single payer system (looking at you USA), but we would be so much further behind without patent protection. Especially for orphan diseases.

    Don’t really agree with you on IP for most creative purposes either. There should be a reasonable length of time you get exclusive rights to something you create. But this doesn’t excuse Disney’s stranglehold on the mouse.



  • I think this is usually specifically for diesel fuel. Certain places have diesel fuel with red dye in it that is tax exempt. Any fuel you buy from a standard gas station has a good amount of tax baked into the price and it’s earmarked to go towards road and infrastructure repair. The thought process is, if you’re not using said vehicle on the road, you shouldn’t have to pay this tax.

    So, they dye it red, sell it only at special places, and you get fined pretty heavily if you’re found using it in street vehicles. Typically it’s truckers that do it because most American cars (including cop cars) are not diesel. And I’ve never heard of this setup for regular gas.