From Bernard.Lang@inria.fr  Fri Nov 24 09:54:05 2000
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000 10:54:05 +0100
From: Bernard Lang Bernard.Lang@inria.fr
Subject: [Patents] Economic assessment

On Fri, Nov 24, 2000 at 12:39:20AM -0500, Gregory Aharonian wrote:
> Ed writes:
> >In the case of software, you have to decide whether the benefits from
> >worthwhile software patents outweigh the losses from bad software
> >patents.  It's a matter of opinion how many software patents are
> >economically useful ones, but I'm sure everyone on this list will
> >agree that such swpats as are worthwhile are heavily outweighed by
> >the mass of bad patents.
> 
> Which may or may not be true for not only software patents, but all
> other areas of technology.  Talk to biotechnology researchers - they
> have even bigger complaints than software developers over the large
> number of questionable biotech patents that require researchers to get
> licenses to do their research, a far more onerous and freedom-restricting
> problem than anything software developers are complaining about.
> 
> I would guess in most field, the bad patents far outweigh the good patents,
> and one can question whether society as a whole gains a net benefit.
> 
> Which makes this line of attack on software patents solely, unjust.  If
> you are going to question the social economic benefits of software
> patents, you have to do it to most areas of technology where there are
> major complaints about patent quality.  In fact, for years I have been
> arguing for studies (not opinions) to be done of the quality of issued
> patents in a variety of fields, studies which could produce the raw
> data to consider economic impacts.

quite right ... 

 The are many parameters to evaluate the impact of patents in a given
area of technology.  This should be taken into account when deciding
on patenting rules (including no patents) in each area.

 There are also, many way to enforce patents, and for example, they
could or could not be enforceable on people doing research, doing
not-for-profit development, on distribution rather than use the
process or the product, or the reverse, etc ...  There could even be
natural exemptions (e.g. drug patents in developing countries)

  One problem is that some "inventions" are hard to classify, and
hence the IP people have been fighting for a uniform patent law
... which has been implemented during the past 30 years (e.g. uniform
20 years, whatever the field), and has soon proved to be unmanageable
since the biotech people already found ways of getting extra time.

> 
> Economic impact is a valid criticism of the software patenting system.
> But like many other aspects of software patents vis-a-vis other areas
> of technology, the criticism must be applied to these other areas as
> well.  If you look back in history, you will see these complaints about
> software patents written about other new technologies - each wave of
> new technology happens quicker than patent offices can react.  It is
> time this stopped, not by attacking the latest problem area, but 
> addressing and correcting the patent examination process itself.  But
> on logical and ethical grounds, I reject separating out software for
> special attentions.  These problems affect all areas of technology, and
> and probably will have the same solutions (other than outright bans).

so do I ... but you will allow programmers to fight their own fight
... for the time being.  They stand a better chance at credibility
than when they talk about biology or mechanics.

> Those in the free software movement might want to break out of their
> shells and talk to researchers and developers in other areas, like
> biotech.  Their complaints, their actual suffering, are far greater,
> than what is happening in software.  Just look at the complaints 
> coming out of the Human Genome projects.  It would be of more benenfit
> to more people to harass the energies against software patents against
> all problems areas of patenting.  A tougher fight, but one that will
> have more lasting impact.

we do not necessarily tell you everything we are doing  :-)

Bernard

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