The implication was that people in his line of work were in it for the money, but that authors were much more concerned with prestige. Under current interpretations of intellectual property laws, scientific journals are lumped together with James Bond novels. But just as there are obligations for scholars to publish their work in journals, it would seem that such scholarly journals should have obligations to make their articles available for educational purposes without reaping royalties. And just as the Beatles should be compensated for commercial exploitation of their works, attempts to regulate personal copying and use of such music seem misguided. Finally, there are large numbers of persisting ethical issues concerning the patentability of certain products.
Pharmaceuticals are a good case in point.
In the early days of the AIDS epidemic AZT was the only drug that offered much hope to victims. But the manufacturer took full advantage of the situation through exorbitant pricing, much of the profit coming indirectly from the public treasury. These fundamental questions become more complicated when an international dimension is added. The rules hammered out in industrialized countries may have little appeal in other settings. The global system is composed of countries at different levels of industrial development, with different value systems, different economic systems, and much different stakes in the protection of intellectual property.