Difference between revisions of "Blocking competing software"

Revision as of 18:27, 1 July 2009

Software patents prevent multiple teams from innovating in the same field. So instead of ten word processors, you'll only have two.

The cost of all these patents has to be paid by someone, often the users.

No Education Patents, archive.org copy
BBC article about BlackBoard's patents, 2006
Tokyo court orders popular word processor off market, 2005, the main competitor to Microsoft Word in Japan is removed from the market due to patents owned by Matsushita Electric Industrial, aka Panasonic.

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-Software patents reduce the number of features, they reduce the number of products (thus reducing competition), and they block compatibility between software packages.
+Software patents prevent multiple teams from innovating in the same field.  So instead of ten word processors, you'll only have two.
 ==Higher prices==
 The cost of all these patents has to be paid by someone, often the users.
-Software Freedom Law Center estimates that, since Microsoft has had to pay more than $4 billion due to patent suits, the users have ended up paying $20 per copy of Microsoft's Windows operating system.[http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2007/patent-tax.html]
+==See also==
+* [[Preventing competition]] - lowering quality, raising prices
+==External links==
+* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080120220500/http://noedupatents.org/ No Education Patents], archive.org copy
+* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4790485.stm BBC article about BlackBoard's patents], 2006
+* [http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/0/3BDE72837B1DD5BBCC256F9C0070E506 Tokyo court orders popular word processor off market], 2005, the main competitor to Microsoft Word in Japan is removed from the market due to patents owned by Matsushita Electric Industrial, aka Panasonic.
 [[Category:Why it matters]]
 [[Category:Arguments]]