Unseemly Science (24 page)

Its other claims to fame are lace making,
and tourism related to Robin the Revolutionary.

Patent Crime

The production, sale or use of any technology judged by the International Patent Office to be “unseemly” or otherwise lacking a patent mark.

Robin the Revolutionary

A political philosopher who pioneered socialist principles in and around Nottingham Forest during the early mediaeval period. He is famed for promoting progressive as opposed to regressive taxation. Much of his activism was related to the redistribution of wealth.

Unseemly Science

All those sciences and technologies judged by the Patent Office to be deleterious to the wellbeing of the common man. Such judgements are difficult, inasmuch as it is impossible to be certain of the future implications of any invention.

Mistakes are minimised through a combination of three factors: a century and a half of case law, the combined wisdom of the patent judges and the application of the precautionary principle. It is axiomatic that the science of medicine is always for the benefit of the common man. Thus its research can never be regarded as unseemly.