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Software patents harm SMEs

During the lobbying around the EU software patents directive, representatives of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were against software patents.

Reasons

The main problems are:

There are other problems. Sometimes these other problems are very real, but sometimes they're used by pro-software-patent campaigns in strange ways to distract politicians away from the main problems. Focussing on these should be don with caution:

How important are SMEs?

  • According to European Business Summit, they provide 99% of European jobs![1] (This sounds too high - other sources say 75%)

Statements

Studies

(See other studies on economics and innovation)

Related pages on ESP Wiki

External links

References

  1. "SMEs Engines for Recovery?". http://eureporter.co.uk/story/smes-engines-recovery. "providing an appropriate balance for a discussion of a sector that provides 99% of all of Europe’s jobs." 


Why abolish software patents
Why abolish software patents Why focus only on software · Why software is different · Software patent quality worse than all other fields · Harm caused by all types of patents
Legal arguments Software is math · Software is too abstract · Software does not make a computer a new machine · Harming freedom of expression · Blocking useful freedoms
High costs Costly legal costs · Cost of the patent system to governments · Cost barrier to market entry · Cost of defending yourself against patent litigation
Impact on society Restricting freedom Harm without litigation or direct threats · Free software projects harmed by software patents · More than patent trolls · More than innovation · Slow process creates uncertainty
Preventing progress Software relies on incremental development · Software progress happens without patents · Reducing innovation and research · Software development is low risk · Reducing job security · Harming education · Harming standards and compatibility
Disrupting the economy Used for sabotage · Controlling entire markets · Breaking common software distribution models · Blocking competing software · Harming smaller businesses · Harming all types of businesses · A bubble waiting to burst
Problems of the legal system Problems in law Clogging up the legal system · Disclosure is useless · Software patents are unreadable · Publishing information is made dangerous · Twenty year protection is too long
Problems in litigation Patent trolls · Patent ambush · Invalid patents remain unchallenged · Infringement is unavoidable · Inequality between small and large patent holders