4 ms·

Patents provide the incentive to invest in R&D by providing a form of guarantee on their investments. Generally speaking, the countries with the strongest pate

Patents provide the incentive to invest in R&D by providing a form of guarantee on their investments. Generally speaking, the countries with the strongest patent rights produce many of the innovative companies.

mtgx 14y ago
Where's the evidence to that? In fact the evidence shows the contrary. Also, US does not have the strongest patent laws.
- M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
  1) Where is the evidence of the opposite? The data is overwhelmingly. 2) U.S. is certainly in the top tier of strongest patent laws.
conanite 14y ago
> Generally speaking, the countries with the strongest patent rights produce many of the innovative companies. The article suggests that the available evidence does not support this conclusion. It seems that in historical technology fairs, countries with a weak or no patent system in place performed as well as other countries, both in terms of numbers of inventions they presented, and awards they received. The article also describes some instances where patents clearly inhibited innovation - for example in the US in 1916, aircraft production halted due to patent disputes between Wright and Curtiss.
- M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
  That's assuming the article is right, but a look around the world shows the opposite - generally speaking the stronger the patent rights, the stronger the innovation. Weak IP African countries vs strong IP in American, European, Japan, Korea.
  - e40 14y ago
    What came first, though, strong IP or innovation? I could see strong IP laws growing out of existing innovation.
  - glesica 14y ago
    Oh come on, you can't seriously be using Africa as an example here. Most African countries lack basic infrastructure and many haven't had a peaceful decade in the last 50 years. IP is a type of law, so countries with weak rule of law probably have weak IP. But I think there is a solid case to be made that the other rule of law issues swamp IP in terms of suppressing innovation.
    - M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
      not so long ago (few hundred years) the new world (America) was behind African infrastructure and yet pulled itself up.
      - mullingitover 14y ago
        One common sense argument is that as industry developed and competition increased, the dominant players were able to perform regulatory capture to ensure that they could rule the market through easily-gamed IP laws.
        M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
        Except advancement of western civilization was much more due to technological innovations than 'gaming IP laws'.
  - rednukleus 14y ago
    Call me crazy, but I don't think a lack of strict patent law is the only thing holding African countries back.
    - M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago

mtgx 14y ago

Where's the evidence to that? In fact the evidence shows the contrary. Also, US does not have the strongest patent laws.

M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
1) Where is the evidence of the opposite? The data is overwhelmingly. 2) U.S. is certainly in the top tier of strongest patent laws.

conanite 14y ago

> Generally speaking, the countries with the strongest patent rights produce many of the innovative companies. The article suggests that the available evidence does not support this conclusion. It seems that in historical technology fairs, countries with a weak or no patent system in place performed as well as other countries, both in terms of numbers of inventions they presented, and awards they received. The article also describes some instances where patents clearly inhibited innovation - for example in the US in 1916, aircraft production halted due to patent disputes between Wright and Curtiss.

M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
That's assuming the article is right, but a look around the world shows the opposite - generally speaking the stronger the patent rights, the stronger the innovation. Weak IP African countries vs strong IP in American, European, Japan, Korea.
- e40 14y ago
  What came first, though, strong IP or innovation? I could see strong IP laws growing out of existing innovation.
- glesica 14y ago
  Oh come on, you can't seriously be using Africa as an example here. Most African countries lack basic infrastructure and many haven't had a peaceful decade in the last 50 years. IP is a type of law, so countries with weak rule of law probably have weak IP. But I think there is a solid case to be made that the other rule of law issues swamp IP in terms of suppressing innovation.
  - M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
    not so long ago (few hundred years) the new world (America) was behind African infrastructure and yet pulled itself up.
    - mullingitover 14y ago
      One common sense argument is that as industry developed and competition increased, the dominant players were able to perform regulatory capture to ensure that they could rule the market through easily-gamed IP laws.
      - M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago
        Except advancement of western civilization was much more due to technological innovations than 'gaming IP laws'.
- rednukleus 14y ago
  Call me crazy, but I don't think a lack of strict patent law is the only thing holding African countries back.
  - M8R-fhlcjm 14y ago