[Patents] patent pools enforcing per-copy-licensing modeof software development

[Gregory Aharonian srctran@world.std.com]

Bernard asks:
>Now I CHALLENGE YOU to exhibit economic studies that concludes to
>the economic and technological usefulness of software patents in the
>long term.

Whoopee.  I CHALLENGE YOU to exhibit economic studies that concludes to
the economic and technological usefulness of patents in the long term
for any area of technology - software, hardware, mechanical, chemical,
electrical.

My gut reaction is that any studies on the economics of patents going
forward in this new century will find either positive or negative
impacts that similar to all of these fields of technology - software,
hardware, mechanical, chemical, electrical.  I cannot say right now
if the net impacts will be positive or negative, but I will bet that
whatever the impacts are for each industry, they will be similar.
Because once again, there is nothing special or holy about software.

If your interest is to make the patent system better, make the whole
patent system better, not just some artificially defined subset.  If
your interest is to get rid of the patent system, make the whole patent
system your target.  But as a practical matter of strategy, relying
on illdefined economic and semantic arguments to attack software 
patents is a waste of time.  It won't change the status quo, it won't
improve the quality of the system, and it won't help victims of
suffering.

Greg Aharonian