ESP Wiki is looking for moderators and active contributors!

Software progress happens without patents

Not only are there studies showing that patents are blocking innovation and research, but there is also decades of proof that software progress happens without patents.

Examples

History shows that software innovation and research clearly do not need patents.

Microsoft Windows 95

Microsoft DOS and Windows 95 are two examples. In 1995, Microsoft had only 77 patents.[1]

After Microsoft attained a dominant market position, they started saying patents were necessary for software development, but they actually wrote their software before they started getting patents.

GNU/Linux

Free software such as the GNU/Linux and FreeBSD operating systems were developed without software patents.

91% of the top 500 super computers run GNU/Linux. [2]

The WWW and email

The World Wide Web is another example, and email is another.

Is Apple an example?

Apple spent many years developing the base of their system (kernel, libraries, system tools) only to throw it all away and use the equivalent components from FreeBSD. Some research would be needed to find evidence to support this, but it's likely that they patented their base system during development, so it's noteworthy that they discarded their patent-fuelled software for software whose development was fuelled not by patents but by copyright alone.

Studies

According to the 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey:

Among software companies, the results are even more striking, with them reporting that patents provide less than a "slight" incentive.

Quotes

Philip Greenspun:

Why didn't you patent this yourself, if you developed it first?" My reply was "It only took me an hour to build; if I went down to the patent office after every hour of programming, I wouldn't get very much done.[3]

Related pages

  • More than innovation - software patents harm innovation, but the problems are also much bigger than just innovation

External links

Red alert.png This entry contains unprocessed external links.
The "External links" section should only contain links to related websites, not articles. You can help us digest the information contained in these links and include it in the body of the article with appropriate citations.

References


Why abolish software patents
Why abolish software patents Why focus only on software · Why software is different · Software patent quality worse than all other fields · Harm caused by all types of patents
Legal arguments Software is math · Software is too abstract · Software does not make a computer a new machine · Harming freedom of expression · Blocking useful freedoms
High costs Costly legal costs · Cost of the patent system to governments · Cost barrier to market entry · Cost of defending yourself against patent litigation
Impact on society Restricting freedom Harm without litigation or direct threats · Free software projects harmed by software patents · More than patent trolls · More than innovation · Slow process creates uncertainty
Preventing progress Software relies on incremental development · Software progress happens without patents · Reducing innovation and research · Software development is low risk · Reducing job security · Harming education · Harming standards and compatibility
Disrupting the economy Used for sabotage · Controlling entire markets · Breaking common software distribution models · Blocking competing software · Harming smaller businesses · Harming all types of businesses · A bubble waiting to burst
Problems of the legal system Problems in law Clogging up the legal system · Disclosure is useless · Software patents are unreadable · Publishing information is made dangerous · Twenty year protection is too long
Problems in litigation Patent trolls · Patent ambush · Invalid patents remain unchallenged · Infringement is unavoidable · Inequality between small and large patent holders