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Difference between revisions of "An Empirical Look at Software Patents"

m (External links: * [http://ssrn.com/abstract=957925 The final version, Spring 2007])
m (External links: * [http://ssrn.com/abstract=461701 The 2004 draft of the paper] - freely downloadable)
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==External links==
 
==External links==
* [http://ssrn.com/abstract=957925 The final version, Spring 2007]
+
* [http://ssrn.com/abstract=957925 The final version, Spring 2007] - for sale only
* [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=461701 The 2004 draft of the paper]
+
* [http://ssrn.com/abstract=461701 The 2004 draft of the paper] - freely downloadable
 
* [http://www.researchineurope.org/policy/hahn_wallsten.pdf A Review of Bessen and Hunt's Analysis of Software Patents] by American Enterprise Institute's Robert Hahn and Scott Wallsten
 
* [http://www.researchineurope.org/policy/hahn_wallsten.pdf A Review of Bessen and Hunt's Analysis of Software Patents] by American Enterprise Institute's Robert Hahn and Scott Wallsten
 
* [http://www.researchoninnovation.org/hahn.pdf Bessen and Hunt's reply to Hahn and Wallsten]
 
* [http://www.researchoninnovation.org/hahn.pdf Bessen and Hunt's reply to Hahn and Wallsten]

Revision as of 16:04, 17 October 2009

An Empirical Look at Software Patents is a paper jointly published in March 2004 by:

  • James E. Bessen, Research on Innovation; Boston University - School of Law
  • Robert M. Hunt, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Interesting parts

From the Abstract:

"[...]The very large increase in software patent propensity over time is not adequately explained by changes in R&D investments, employment of computer programmers, or productivity growth. [...] We find evidence that software patents substitute for R&D at the firm level; they are associated with lower R&D intensity[...]

Page 37 claims that the USPTO grants 70 software patents per day.

From the conclusion:

"For industries like software or computer, there is actually good reason to believe that imitation becomes a spur to innovation, while strong patents become an impediment"

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links