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You completely missed my point. The reason the US approved the abolition of slavery and women's suffrage has nothing to do with the reason it approved IP protec

You completely missed my point. The reason the US approved the abolition of slavery and women's suffrage has nothing to do with the reason it approved IP protection for foreigners. The US approved IP protection for foreigners when Americans wanted to start having their copyrights protected in other countries - something that happened when it reached developed nation status. Now, the US is criticizing developing nations for taking the same approach for their own devlopment, and not respecting IP rights until they can afford to. Not to mention that equating IP rights violations with acts such as enslaving people or not allowing them to vote is the epitome of absurdity.

ars 15y ago
> something that happened when it reached developed nation status Nonsense. The US was born as a developed nation, it never had a period of time when it wasn't.
- w1ntermute 15y ago
  > Nonsense. The US was born as a developed nation, it never had a period of time when it wasn't. You really need to study history again. There was a big gap between Europe and the US that wasn't closed until the late 1800s. In terms of scientific discoveries (which are often closely tied to patentable discoveries), Europe (Germany, more specifically) continued to lead until WW2, when we broke their PhD lineage with Operation Paperclip.