Fwd: TIIP Newsletter 2003-4

[Carsten Svaneborg <zqex@mpipks-dresden.mpg.de>]

Subject: TIIP Newsletter 2003-4
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 12:50:03 -0400
From: "TIIP Editor \(Jim Bessen\)" <tiip@netreach.net>

Newsletter
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Issue 2003-4

To view the contents click on:
http://www.researchoninnovation.org/tiip/index.htm

* * * *

CONTENTS:

1. Survey of Free/Open Source Developers

Analyzing the results of one of the most comprehensive surveys of Free and
Open Source software developers, Karim Lakhani and Bob Wolf find a
surprising picture of programmer motivation.

2. Patent Pools and Litigation

Some scholars have proposed that patent pools may help reduce problems
caused by "thickets" of patents--large numbers of patents covering a single
technology. Jay Pil Choi raises a new problem with patent pools: they may
distort firms' incentives to challenge low quality patents.

3. Patent Value and R&D

Using a unique dataset and a sophisticated model, Ashish Arora, Marco
Ceccagnoli, and Wesley Cohen analyze the differential effect of patent
protection on firm R&D spending.

4. Patent Value and Litigation

John Allison, Mark Lemley, Kimberly Moore and Derek Trunkey compare a large
number of litigated patents to non-litigated patents to obtain clues as to
what makes a patent valuable to the patent holder.

EDITOR'S NOTE: SOMEONE LISTENED

For all the effort that academic researchers pour into policy-related
issues, it is nice to see an occasion where policymakers act on academic
advice. As the European Parliament deliberated a new directive regarding
patents on "computer implemented inventions," fourteen leading European
researchers published a letter and critique of the original draft document
[http://www.researchineurope.org/]. Paul David, one of the signers, wondered
"whether we are just talking to ourselves." Apparently not. Press coverage
regularly reported on the "statement by economists," legislators amended the
directive along lines in keeping with the advice, and this version passed.
The matter is not settled yet (the European Commission is not bound to
follow the Parliament), but, still, it is nice to know that relevance is a
possibility.

-- James Bessen, Editor


-- 
  Mvh. Carsten Svaneborg