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An Empirical Look at Software Patents
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"
See also
External links
- The paper's homepage on Social Science Research Network
- A Review of Bessen and Hunt's Analysis of Software Patents by American Enterprise Institute's Robert Hahn and Scott Wallsten
- Bessen and Hunt's reply to Hahn and Wallsten
