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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
Page 37 claims that the USPTO grants 70 software patents per day.
They found empirical evidence that software patenting substitutes R&D activity, rather than encouraging it, and conclude:
- "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"
