Re:A constant battle (Score 1)

Generally speaking, patents do not cover products. Patents cover procedures, methods or specific implementations which are novel or innovative. I'm not sure I am following your train of thought here.

In the Pharmaceuticals industry product patents (i.e patents for a drug molecule and not just for the process by which the drug molecule was produced) have been around for many years in the U.S. and more recently with the TRIPS agreement in the WTO have been foisted on the rest of the world as well. I'd say it's a matter of time before other industries want to get into the act (that is if they haven't already).