[Patents] Some remarks on Vol 1 #284

[Yann DIETRICH Yann.Dietrich@enst.fr]

Microsoft does not need any patent to obtain its monopolistic place. In
business, there are a lot of differents methods to restrain competition or
to buy competitors which one of the best way. So, perhaps market entrance
cost will be higher with patent, but life time of a competitor will be
perhaps also higher. Please do not under estimate other commercial tools and
risks for SMEs.
otherwise, legal harassment will subsist even if there is no sw patent, big
firms will find ohter legal ways.

Yann


-----Message d'origine-----
De: Francois PELLEGRINI <pelegrin@labri.u-bordeaux.fr>
À: Yann DIETRICH <Yann.Dietrich@enst.fr>; patents@aful.org
<patents@aful.org>
Date: jeudi 12 octobre 2000 10:47
Objet: Re: [Patents] Some remarks on Vol 1 #284


Yann DIETRICH wrote:

> In my mind, in computer field, there is a cultural problem about IP
rights.
> ( I use my first cracked software at 13 years old and I am a great fan of
> napster .... and I am an IP/IT lawyer ) But, in a very monopolistic market
> such as software, only strong legal instruments such as patent allow small
> firms to earn market share, even if it is hard.

    No, no, it is exactly the contrary.

    What current economical reports state is that patents higher the cost of
market entrance, since companies willing to enter must prior pay fees for
tons of obvious existing sw-patents before being able to start useful work.

    Sw-patents are a weapon against SMEs to guarantee monopolies of
existing companies, by barring entrance to innovative markets.

    Moreover, sw-patents lower the efficiency of R&D. Without sw-patents,
several companies that invest R&D in some promising field can, even if they
do not market their products first, get a pay-back from the market, and
these
multiple efforts will higher the lever of innovation.
    With sw-patents, the company that patents first prevents the others from
getting pay-back for their R&D effort. The more companies, the more loss of
collective efficiency, and the more reluctance of potential innovators to
enter

such a risky market.

    Unlike what you state, the market of software is currently not
monopolistic.
But it will become more and more so if sw-patents are allowed.



f.p.