[Patents] consultation questions

[pelegrin@labri.u-bordeaux.fr (Francois PELLEGRINI)]

        Hello all,

Pierre Breese wrote:
> > 3. Which contributions to the progress of information technology do
> > we owe to the incentive offered by software patents?
> In helping the rise and the growth of european small companies innovative in
> softwares progress.

It is not true and you know it well. See for instance :

http://info.sm.umist.ac.uk/esrcip/background.htm

I have listed some of its conclusions below.

But since ou claim to be a specialist, M. Breese, we would like to
have your comments on the findings of this study...


                                f.p.


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Conclusions:

"2.  Patent information for SMEs

The patent system gives SMEs no help in innovating, Macdonald concludes
from surveys and interviews involving over 2,600 firms. It
neither fosters nor protects their innovation. "The patent system is at
best an irrelevancy for most small firms." 
       ...

Most companies lack the necessary expertise to use patent databases
themselves and many are dissatisfied with the service offered by
patent agents. Oppenheim attributes this lack of interest to a marketing
strategy by the Patent Office that takes too little account of the real
requirements of SMEs. 

       3. Electronic publishing

Tang and Thomas conclude fromt heir interviews with 31 small firms in
electronic publishing that the sector puts more faith in having a
good market niche to exploit and in "technical" means of protection such
as encryption, than in the legal protection of IP. 
Wallis concludes from his research into the increasing convergence of
firms from disparate media sectors - film, radio, TV, music, book
publishing, computing, telecoms, etc. - that the new multi-media
industry is already polarised between big global players and small
single-activity firms. Medium-sized multimedia enterprises have almost
disappeared. 
He [Wallis] warns of some consequences. The big global players bring
together people hitherto in business competition, which can
compromise the spectrum of rights previously available to creative
people. Survival of the national collecting societies on which many
performers depend for royalties is being threatened. He urges Government
to support research that will underpin new regulations that are
fair to performers, multimedia companies and the consumer. 
...

4.  Knowledge-based services

Miles concludes from his studies of knowledge-intensive business
services (KIBS) that, although they now account for about 25 per cent
of UK research & development, the patent system is not very relevant to
this sector. Trust, professionalism and copyright are more
important in this very innovative sector. "... most services are not
patented and are not patentable." "