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> People invent and invest in the absence of patents I don't think that this is established. Patents have existed since the 1400's and areas that have patent
by seanflyon 12y ago
> People invent and invest in the absence of patents
I don't think that this is established. Patents have existed since the 1400's and areas that have patent systems have general out-innovated areas without them. This could be the result of many other factors, but patents do clearly provide an incentive to innovate. I think a better argument is that the added costs of dealing with patent trolls outweighs the incentive of a temporary monopoly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
- derekp7 12y agoLogically, it can also have the opposite effect. If you have all the rights for a product, you have no incentive to improve it, until the patents are about to expire.
- CamperBob2 12y agoMy favorite example is the Roomba. Cool new vacuum cleaner invented, ridiculously broad/abstract patents filed... result, near zero progress for 20 years.
- rhino369 12y agoPatents don't give you rights to a product. Only a certain implementation of one. Your competitors will patent improved versions if you don't. They might also invent a product using a new implementation leaving you with no market. And in practice, it doesn't work that way. Companies acquire patents on each minor upgrade to their technology.
- vidarh 12y agoYour competitors won't exist if your basic patents are broad enough to deny them access to the market.
- derekp7 12y agoI was thinking more along the lines of competitors who are in the same space as you (let's say, light bulb manufactures) -- you patent a new type of bulb, your competitors could patent a bunch of improvements on it to deny you future market on improved versions.
- nitrogen 12y agoPatents have existed since the 1400's and areas that have patent systems have general out-innovated areas without them. Has the direction of causality been established here? Maybe areas with more innovation sprout wannabe monopolists who manage to lobby their governments to create patent protections.
- seanflyon 12y ago> Has the direction of causality been established here? Immediately after the sentence you quote is the answer to your question: "This could be the result of many other factors" The other factor you suggest is certainly plausible.