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CamilaTapernouxSecondPaper 6 - 01 Jun 2012 - Main.CamilaTapernoux
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| | | The third question is the one of greatest personal importance, yet it is deceptively earnest, for it presupposes the fact that I intend to use my license to serve this goal. Certainly my moral convictions lie firmly with those of the Public Patent Foundation; yet actions speak louder than words, and I will be spending the summer at a firm noted for its work enforcing patents that "belong" to Big Pharma companies and defending such companies in cases just like the one discussed above. But this presents an opportunity to learn as much as it presents an opportunity to compromise. To learn on Big Law's dime the anatomy of a patent reexamination request and use the skills I acquire for the other side. The difficulty is of course obvious, and just one variation on the challenge faced by all law students who come to law school with inchoate but firm ideas of to what end they intend to use their degrees, yet are drafted by the other team before anyone has a chance to recognize exactly what's going on. | |
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< | Enter Eben Moglen. This semester, we received a raging heads up about where this conveyor belt we are on is headed. Would my life be more simple right now if this had not happened? Certainly. I would not be thinking twice about the implications of my first summer assignment, one that provides support for the defense of a patent held by a large pharmaceutical company. But is the resolution to these moral concerns ambiguous or difficult? Not even a little bit. I could easily write 1000 words framing this decision as one involving trade-offs and compromises, gray areas and complications, but on the most basic level it boils down to a very straightforward choice, and I'm not going to try and convince myself or anyone else otherwise. The primary limitation for me is the uncertainty and risk of deviating from the safe and predictable career path I am currently following. So I would also like to utilize the revision process to formulate a detailed alternative plan, to the extent possible, or at least to become more comfortable with the idea of not having a concrete and stable ten year plan. We law students are a risk averse bunch, which is perhaps one reason the current system has worked so well for so long. But to allow such a character trait to become a liability is no different than allowing oneself to become a cog in the corporate law machine; the only difference is that the former involves being a slave to internal forces, the latter external. | >
> | Enter Eben Moglen. This semester, we received a raging heads up about where this conveyor belt we are on is headed. Would my life be simpler right now if this had not happened? Certainly. I would not be thinking twice about the implications of my first summer assignment, one that provides support for the defense of a patent held by a large pharmaceutical company. But is the resolution to these moral concerns ambiguous or difficult? Not even a little bit. I could easily write 1000 words framing this decision as one involving trade-offs and compromises, gray areas and complications, but it boils down to a very straightforward choice, and I'm not going to try and convince myself or anyone else otherwise. The primary limitation for me is the uncertainty and risk of deviating from the safe and predictable career path I am currently following. So I would also like to utilize the revision process to formulate an alternative plan, to the extent possible, or at least to become more comfortable with the idea of not having a concrete and stable ten year plan. We law students are a risk averse bunch, which is perhaps one reason the current system has worked so well for so long. But to allow such a character trait to become a liability is no better than allowing oneself to become a cog in the corporate law machine; the only difference is that the former involves being a slave to internal forces, the latter external. | | |
You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. |
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