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It's amazing that just a handful of non-producing individuals were able to skim $700MM off the software industry in just one year. How much did you pay in hidde
by joblessjunkie 16y ago
It's amazing that just a handful of non-producing individuals were able to skim $700MM off the software industry in just one year. How much did you pay in hidden costs to Intellectual Ventures this year?
It's difficult to put a price tag on the economic benefit of software patents -- but here we've got an obvious example of their cost.
- rudiger 16y agoIt's probably not that much percentage terms. I mean, the software industry is worth many $100s of billions in annual revenue (incl. companies' revenues, employees' revenues, and benefits to the greater economy), so it's probably a tax on the system of less than 0.01%.
- bediger 16y agoHow do you know that for sure? What about all the products that didn't make it to market because they couldn't negotiate a license that worked for both parties? How about all the products that didn't make it to market for fear of incurring a suit from a troll? It's probably a tax on the system of more than 10-20%. There, my unsupported assertion beats yours, rock-paper-scissors.