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Economists use number of patents as a measure of innovation, and my reading of the abstract was basically "piracy increases innovation where innovation = patent

Economists use number of patents as a measure of innovation, and my reading of the abstract was basically "piracy increases innovation where innovation = patents". I think a more interesting study would compare software innovation in China vs the West. Anyone who remembers computer vision pre ~2013 will fondly remember that simple things like image descriptors and occupancy grids are patented. "Patent encumbered technology" was jargon. Thankfully a lot of the more egregious patents from the dotcom era are now expiring.

belval 5y ago
Eh this approach still exists at FANG companies, it seems like we stockpile patents to ensure that if we get sued by another FANG-level company it's mutually assured destruction. The legal department at a startup I used to work at was pretty open about it.
- rhino369 5y ago
  It can also be lucrative if business wanes. Companies with near monopoly power already printing money regardless so they don't bother. But a lot of once-great companies turn to monetizing patents. Some of the most successful patent trolls buy portfolios from companies that were actually engaged in the field at the time.
- webmaven 5y ago
  > Eh this approach still exists at FANG companies, it seems like we stockpile patents to ensure that if we get sued by another FANG-level company it's mutually assured destruction. > The legal department at a startup I used to work at was pretty open about it. They also can be (and have been) used as a cudgel against smaller companies to force them to make a deal or even sell out to the patent holder: > The blue suits did not even confer among themselves. They just sat there, stonelike. Finally, the chief suit responded. "OK," he said, "maybe you don't infringe these seven patents. But we have 10,000 U.S. patents. Do you really want us to go back to Armonk [IBM headquarters in New York] and find seven patents you do infringe? Or do you want to make this easy and just pay us $20 million?" https://www.forbes.com/asap/2002/0624/044_print.html https://www.forbes.com/asap/2002/0624/044_print.html
jimmySixDOF 5y ago
>image descriptors and occupancy grids What can actually qualify for a patent in Software seems so unclear and variable. Did someone invent the concept of "Infinite Scroll" and just not file for IP protection so it gets used everywhere? Or is it copywrite of the actual code that delivers one Infinite Scroll embodiment in JavaScript_Flavor_1? Pirating software as in cracking a keygen of some whole branded Application is very different from launching a relabeled product clone with some reverse engineered feature parity. By some interpretations you literally can't implement a text box without infringing on IP. And I don't see a way, in advance, to figure out what patents overlap with your proposed innovation... you just appear to cross your fingers, file, wait for the examiner to pick a few citations out of a hat, and if you get past that rejection, then you launch said feature (if you haven't already) and review the take down notices case by case. The discovery process can definitely be improved but a lot of innovation takes place in spite of the as-is patent system; not as a result.

belval 5y ago

Eh this approach still exists at FANG companies, it seems like we stockpile patents to ensure that if we get sued by another FANG-level company it's mutually assured destruction. The legal department at a startup I used to work at was pretty open about it.

rhino369 5y ago
It can also be lucrative if business wanes. Companies with near monopoly power already printing money regardless so they don't bother. But a lot of once-great companies turn to monetizing patents. Some of the most successful patent trolls buy portfolios from companies that were actually engaged in the field at the time.
webmaven 5y ago
> Eh this approach still exists at FANG companies, it seems like we stockpile patents to ensure that if we get sued by another FANG-level company it's mutually assured destruction. > The legal department at a startup I used to work at was pretty open about it. They also can be (and have been) used as a cudgel against smaller companies to force them to make a deal or even sell out to the patent holder: > The blue suits did not even confer among themselves. They just sat there, stonelike. Finally, the chief suit responded. "OK," he said, "maybe you don't infringe these seven patents. But we have 10,000 U.S. patents. Do you really want us to go back to Armonk [IBM headquarters in New York] and find seven patents you do infringe? Or do you want to make this easy and just pay us $20 million?" https://www.forbes.com/asap/2002/0624/044_print.html https://www.forbes.com/asap/2002/0624/044_print.html

jimmySixDOF 5y ago

>image descriptors and occupancy grids What can actually qualify for a patent in Software seems so unclear and variable. Did someone invent the concept of "Infinite Scroll" and just not file for IP protection so it gets used everywhere? Or is it copywrite of the actual code that delivers one Infinite Scroll embodiment in JavaScript_Flavor_1? Pirating software as in cracking a keygen of some whole branded Application is very different from launching a relabeled product clone with some reverse engineered feature parity. By some interpretations you literally can't implement a text box without infringing on IP. And I don't see a way, in advance, to figure out what patents overlap with your proposed innovation... you just appear to cross your fingers, file, wait for the examiner to pick a few citations out of a hat, and if you get past that rejection, then you launch said feature (if you haven't already) and review the take down notices case by case. The discovery process can definitely be improved but a lot of innovation takes place in spite of the as-is patent system; not as a result.