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Patents are meant to spur innovation and thereby improve social welfare. Just because this may work in certain industries, doesn't mean that it automatically wo

Patents are meant to spur innovation and thereby improve social welfare. Just because this may work in certain industries, doesn't mean that it automatically works in other industries. There's a lot of evidence that the costs of software patents to society are higher than their benefits.

kiba 16y ago
It may work, but it doesn't mean it does work. You may remember James Watt's steam engine monopoly slowing down the industrial revolution in Britain. Everybody believed that it does work without actually examining the evidence for the other industries.
billmcneale 16y ago
> There's a lot of evidence that the costs of software patents to society are higher than their benefits Where is that evidence? The US seems to be innovating quite a bit in the software area compared to other countries.
- Stephan_ 16y ago
  How often have you heard or read about a piece of software that someone developed only because it could be protected by a software patent, about a software innovation that would have been too costly to develop if it couldn't be protected by patents? And on the other hand, how often have you heard or read about programmers and companies worrying about unknowingly infringing on software patents, about companies getting sued by other companies that turn whole fields of software into minefields, or about developers or companies that couldn't (afford to) implement the best known algorithm for an application, because someone else had been granted a monopoly on using that algorithm.
  - billmcneale 16y ago
    You're just offering indirect evidence, I'm giving you the concrete fact that the US is one of the most innovative software producers. At least in the US, you can't create a start up and just create a knock-off of an existing product: you are forced to innovate because of software patent laws. This is probably why the US is striving while countries that don't have such laws such as Chine hardly innovate at all.
    - Stephan_ 16y ago
      But where is your direct evidence that software patents have anything to do with the US being "one of the most innovative software producers"? I'd also argue that it's mainly copyright law and trademarks that prevents the kind of product piracy that is prevalent in certain countries with a less developed legal system, at least with regard to software products.
      - billmcneale 16y ago
        > But where is your direct evidence that software patents have anything to do with the US being "one of the most innovative software producers"? That's not what I'm arguing. All I'm saying is that given the fact that US is one of the most innovative countries in the software area, the burden of proof is on those who claim that the software patent system is broken.

kiba 16y ago

It may work, but it doesn't mean it does work. You may remember James Watt's steam engine monopoly slowing down the industrial revolution in Britain. Everybody believed that it does work without actually examining the evidence for the other industries.

billmcneale 16y ago

> There's a lot of evidence that the costs of software patents to society are higher than their benefits Where is that evidence? The US seems to be innovating quite a bit in the software area compared to other countries.

Stephan_ 16y ago
How often have you heard or read about a piece of software that someone developed only because it could be protected by a software patent, about a software innovation that would have been too costly to develop if it couldn't be protected by patents? And on the other hand, how often have you heard or read about programmers and companies worrying about unknowingly infringing on software patents, about companies getting sued by other companies that turn whole fields of software into minefields, or about developers or companies that couldn't (afford to) implement the best known algorithm for an application, because someone else had been granted a monopoly on using that algorithm.
- billmcneale 16y ago
  You're just offering indirect evidence, I'm giving you the concrete fact that the US is one of the most innovative software producers. At least in the US, you can't create a start up and just create a knock-off of an existing product: you are forced to innovate because of software patent laws. This is probably why the US is striving while countries that don't have such laws such as Chine hardly innovate at all.
  - Stephan_ 16y ago
    But where is your direct evidence that software patents have anything to do with the US being "one of the most innovative software producers"? I'd also argue that it's mainly copyright law and trademarks that prevents the kind of product piracy that is prevalent in certain countries with a less developed legal system, at least with regard to software products.
    - billmcneale 16y ago
      > But where is your direct evidence that software patents have anything to do with the US being "one of the most innovative software producers"? That's not what I'm arguing. All I'm saying is that given the fact that US is one of the most innovative countries in the software area, the burden of proof is on those who claim that the software patent system is broken.