Intellectual Property Rights Stripped to Stop Global Warming?

Capitalist democracies around the world should be very concerned about the level of socialism being discussed at the United Nations' climate change meeting in Bali.

Not only are international hands being extended to collect funds from countries like the United States in order to help poorer nations deal with a problem that might actually be disappearing since global temperatures peaked in 1998, but climate change is also being used as a means of stripping intellectual property rights from companies that have created new more eco-friendly energy technologies.

If such a power-grab for the so-called benefit of the downtrodden actually comes to pass, capitalism as we know it will cease to exist.

Think that might be a little alarmist? Feast your eyes on the following report from Bali by the Associated Press Wednesday under the headline "Poor Nations Demand Climate Technology" (emphasis added throughout):

Developing nations at the U.N. Climate Change Conference demanded rapid transfers of technology Wednesday to help them combat global warming, while a report warned that some of Asia's biggest cities could be threatened by rising sea levels.

[...]

Delegates and activists led by the Group of 77, which represents 132 mainly developing countries and China, said barriers such as intellectual property rights and a lack of a sense of urgency among rich countries are slowing the transfer of needed technology.

See where this is going, folks? The hysteria about a problem that doesn't exist is being used by countries like China to extort energy technology from, let's face it, us.

Think the media will be reporting this any time soon?

While you ponder, Jane Spencer and Tom Wright of the Wall Street Journal elaborated Thursday on the truly frightening nature of these discussions (emphasis added throughout):

But the idea is generating tensions with U.S. officials, because American companies don't want to sell this new technology at cut-rate prices. The officials also worry that innovative technologies could be illegally copied if they are deployed in China.

China steal American technology and illegally copy it for resale around the planet? No, they'd never do that:

But Zou Ji, a member of China's delegation who specializes in clean-energy-technology issues, said in an interview he would introduce a proposal during the meeting that would set up a body under the United Nations to promote the transfer of renewable-energy technology to poorer nations.

He will also propose that the U.N. body manage a fund that would help finance the spread of new, clean-power technologies. The fund also would support research on clean-energy technology and could acquire intellectual-property rights related to clean power.

"We are dealing with something related to public good," Mr. Zou said. "It's a trade-off between intellectual-property rights and climate protection."

Picture becoming clearer? In order to save the planet from the bogeyman these folks helped create and instill fear of, American companies that conceivably have been working for years to develop new energy technologies must forfeit their rights to such valuable property.

Just imagine where America's green media will be on this trade-off.

Of course, the real fear lovers of democracy and capitalism should be feeling is what this precedent will do, and how it could be exploited in the future for any piece of intellectual property. All one needs do is identify a moral imperative for undeveloped nations or the poor to possess a thing, then appeal to the international community to do so, and voila.

Once this socialism ball gets rolling, what's to prevent it from encompassing virtually any product or service deemed necessary for someone's survival?

Welcome to the new age of eco-socialism, folks. Hope you enjoy the ride.

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