[Patents] Richard Stallman -- The Anatomy of a Trivial Patent

[Stefane Fermigier sf@fermigier.com]

On Sat, May 27, 2000 at 04:25:36PM +0200, Fred Mobach wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> At Linux Today you can read a story from Richard Stallman titled The
> Anatomy of a Trivial Patent. You can find the story at
> http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2000-05-26-004-04-OP-LF.

Very interesting.

The PDF article cited at the end of RMS article is even more interesting
(was it discussed on this list already ? I don't think so).

It' written by two researcher from MIT and concludes, after giving 
mathematical
models and experimental evidence, that:

Intellectual property appears to be one of those areas where results that seem
secure in the context of a static model are overturned in a dynamic model.
Imitation invariably inhibits innovation in a static world; in a dynamic 
world,
imitators can provide benefit to both the original innovator and to society as
a whole. Patents preserve innovation incentives in a static world; in a 
dynamic
world, firms may have plenty of incentive to innovate without patents and
patents may constrict complementary innovation. 

This suggests a cautionary note regarding intellectual property protection. 
The
reflexive view that  stronger is always better  is incorrect; rather a 
balanced
approach is required. The ideal patent policy limits  knock-off  imitation, 
but
allows developers who make similar, but potentially valuable complementary
contributions. In this sense, copyright protection for software programs 
(which
has gone through its own evolution over the last decade) may have achieved a
better balance than patent protection. In particular, industry participants
complain that software patents have been too broad and too obvious, leading to
holdup problems [USTPO]. Also in this regard, patent systems that limit patent
breadth, such as the Japanese system, may offer a better balance. Thus our
model suggests another, different rationale for narrow patent breadth than the
recent economic literature on this subject.

        S.

-- 
Stéfane Fermigier, Tel: 06 63 04 12 77 (mobile).
<www.portalux.com>: le portail Linux / logiciel libre.
"Amazon: we patent the dot in .com"