Re: [Patents] GregNews/WSJ on patent-based tax evasion

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

> No, that is not the reason, if you knew anything about running a business
> and paying taxes.  Non-licensed patents are an asset only to the value of
> the cost of getting the patent issued.  In the US, such costs are
> deductible in the year they are incurred (I assume similarly in Europe),
> and thus there is no need for tax sheltering.

They are afaik deductible over 5 years and the value is estimated well
above the costs of obtaining the patents.

> The costs of buying a patent from someone else have to be amortized
> over 15 years, which is not much of a benefit if the patent you
> acquire isn't bringing in any royalties.

Bringing in royalties is only one of many valuable features of a patent.
Others are:  securing a monopoly position on your product, fending off
attacks, allowing access to pools etc.

> To the extent European tax law is different, it probably isn't too
> different, so that even in Europe there is little use of exploiting
> software patents for tax purposes.

Have you really researched US tax law enough to be able to support your
above claims?  It wouldn't make much sense to estimate the asset value of
a patent to an equal of its obtaining costs, and I find it hard to believe
that this is the practise either in the US or in Europe.

> And for the record, my "deeply concerned" about tax issues you allude
> to in your post, was complete sarcasm on my part
> sense of humor whatsoever and a bit of knowledge about US tax law, you
> would have recognized.

There must be some hidden context which your readers understand but I
don't.  Please explain.

> And for the record, you continual posts of my PATNEWS to this list
> without my permission shows your contempt for copyright laws.

Quoting to the extent to which I did is allowed by copyright laws. On the
other hand, GregNews has quite a few times quoted big chunks of my writing
without giving credit to the originator, and you have excluded me and
other critics from your mailing list.  So, although I haven't violated
your copyrights, I feel entitled to take some liberty in dealing with
them.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
120,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/