Re: Patents Hurt (or help?) was: [IT World Feature: Patently ridiculous: What's Europe to do?]

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

> > > 1. Patent, by definition is limitation on R&D.
> >
> > Patents limit commercial exploitation of R&D, not R&D itself.
> Patents are *exclusive* right. Patents are limitation on *use* of
> invention. Use includes R&D based on patented idea. One good example,
> given by some articale on patents (sorry, don't have URL handy) was like
> this:
> One can't patent improved bicycle wheel, if bicycle itself is patented.

Not true.
You can patent the improved bicycle wheel even if the bicycle is patented,
and it is a good idea to do that, because by patenting a lot of small
improvements you may soon be able to cross-license the bicycle.

> > Even assuming that assertion 1 was true, I don't understand how you can
> > infer this "ergo".
> Hmm... Limitation means slowdown. If you do not agree with that, please
> show how it is not. There might be cases, where slowdown is one of ways
> to preserve movement.

Maybe this is a good parallel.
At least in ordinary schoolbook economics, it is thought that a certain
restriction on distribution of information goods (and thereby also a
certain restriction on competition) serves to enable originators to
capture the revenues which are needed to sustain their activity.

> In physics. Not in culture or civilization
> progress. An recent example of what cooperative and collaborative model of
> development can do, we can look at history of computing science, which was
> mainly moved forward by people, who couldn't care less for patents on
> their work.

Even in that case, it could be argued that these people were able to
concentrate on their work only because some other people financed them by
means of patents or other forms of restriction on distribution.  As
patents have been becoming more commonplace, more and more people will
argue like that, saying that the geeks don't understand economics and
politicians should be listening only to the "patent experts".  Which is
why I'd like to see your economic argumentation to becoming better.

-- 
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/