I was initially pleasantly surprised with this release but tweeted my disappointment pretty quickly. Even with a schematic it can take months to get the layout right and validated on a line, build and setup the test apparatus...
If you know there is never a chance someone could mass produce your machine to threat your revenue, it's disingenuous at best to claim open sourcing your 15 year old modal could help for other to mass produce ventilators in the next few days or weeks (NOT YEARS!!!).
It just doesn't help in short time and in long term it doesn't matter because we need the ventilators NOW!
The press reads as if anyone with access to a factory capable of manufacturing electrical systems with custom enclosures could pull the files, place some orders, and start pumping units out as soon as their tooling was ready.
- In May 2018, Medtronic was ranked as the largest corporate tax inversion in history. [1]
- Medtronic weaseled their way out of creating affordable ventilators for the US government.[2]
[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-id...
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/business/coronavirus-us-v...
Even when you bring tech into your personal life, remember that it's one more thing you need to patch, backup, replace, etc.
There is no way to manufacture one from this set of docs.
I mean i believe stuff like MRI cannot be manufactured by non large manufacturers but what about all other machines.
My guess is the bottleneck would be no one except current manufacturers make it at scale to do it cheap enough. It would be a great project to have though.
When i look at the prices of certain devices it just boggles my mind. It is crazier when one realizes that some of these are not even patent protected.
I think "kick" means that there are developing nations that don't care about IP law. The authorities in these nations are not going to help anyone arrest anyone. In fact, in some developing nations, the authorities may actually be the ones infringing the IP.
I know for a fact this is the case in Cuba.
Of course Cuba's doctors are world renown, but just how do you think their health system gets those kinds of world leading medical outcomes under a comprehensive blockade for over 60 years with no access to medications or healthcare technology? It's not only due to Cuban doctors inventing novel procedures and medications. (Which is admirable). It's also due in no small part to the Cuban state flagrantly ignoring IP. And Cuban doctors will infringe IP without hesitation if they think it will help their patients. So when Cuban doctors show up in West Africa to contain Ebola, or in East Africa for SARS, or in Italy for Coronavirus, or etc etc etc, the host nations likely don't ask a whole lot of questions about whether or not certain equipment or medications they have with them infringe patents.
Please don't misunderstand, I don't believe what the Cuban medical community does is wrong at all. They've got a patient, and they see themselves as pure doctors and not beholden to commercial interests where patient safety is concerned. Good on them. I'm just pointing out that "kick" is right, there are a lot of developing nations out there who simply ignore IP. Cuba is just one of the more famous examples.
