Pen and paper patents
"Pen and paper patents" refers to the question of whether allowing patents on writing software implies that people can also apply for patents on writing other things, with a pen or pencil.
Contents
Economically, computers are like paper
FFII argues:[1]
the economic rationale behind not granting patents on thoughts applies also here: abstract ideas are, regardless of their applicability to technical problems, produced without experimentation cost, applicable to an infinite range of problems, and replicated at zero cost with no overhead to which patent license fees could be added. The division of the extra cost of patents by the marginal cost (and long-term ideal price) of information goods is a division by zero. Moreover the deal between the inventor and the public, characterised as "monopoly on commercial implementation in return for disclosure of idea", is led ad absurdum: since between the idea and the application there is no invention, any adequate disclosure of the idea in turing-complete syntax risks to become an act of patent infringement.
Related pages on ESP Wiki
External links
- Debunking the Software Patent “Pen and Paper Myth”, 14 Apr 2010, IPWatchdog
References