How Much Harm Do Bad Patents Do To The Economy?
from the billions-and-billions-of-dollars-worth dept
We've been discussing how patents can have a serious economic downside (as was recognized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison as they designed the patent system). It appears that some researchers are trying to quantify just how much damage bad patents are doing to the economy. Against Monopoly points us to a blog post at Technological Innovation and Intellectual Property that discusses the results of a preliminary study (pdf file) that estimates a loss of $22.5 billion due to bad patents. The researchers admit that the findings are preliminary, but it does create an initial framework by which to look at the negative impact of bad patents on the economy. Among other things, the paper lists out the following ways that bad patents harm the economy:- Cause consumers to absorb monopoly prices over "inventions" that were already effectively common knowledge
- Direct resources away from productive research and instead towards strategic accumulation of patents already filed over innovations already deployed
- Divert resources to "defensive patenting" or securing offensive "blocking patents
- Direct research away from areas of existing patents that should not have been granted
- Direct resources toward acquiring and enforcing substandard patents and collecting royalties rather than other more-productive fields of economic activity.
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Filed Under: bad patents, economic impact, patents
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Software companies? Patent Lawyers?
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The economic good is what other markets get, when they are not bound by our restrictions. OUR patent system is benefiting China to the nth degree.
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How Much Harm Do Bad Patents Do To The Economy????
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Re: How Much Harm Do Bad Patents Do To The Economy
What's wrong with the "golden ring" known as demand from the market?
And your assertion that progress would have been retarded is provably false. As we've pointed out repeatedly, studies have shown over and over again that patents have no direct impact on innovation, and in some cases clearly impeded it. The Netherlands got rid of its patent system, and that allowed it to *speed up* progress so it could become an industrialized nation. Ditto with Switzerland, who delayed implementing a patent system and saw the same thing happen. Look at Eric Schiff's research to learn more about this.
Also look at Petra Moser's research on innovation in places with patents and without. The research shows that there is still plenty of innovation in places without patents.
Look at David Levine and Michele Boldrin's research on the pharma industry in Italy both before and after patents. Before patents there were many more firms, a lot more competition and a lot more new products being developed. Afterwards that went away.
So, the idea that there is less innovation without patents hasn't been shown to be true.
People want the $$$ and are willing to invest time, $$$ and inspiration for it. You are always hearing about the new gizmo that everyone wants.
Yes, so they sell the gizmo and they get the $$$. What's that got to do with patents?
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Re: How Much Harm Do Bad Patents Do To The Economy
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Many of the major software innovation occurred before the patent system.
Heck, even Bill Gates said patents are bad.
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Tecnological Advance Doesn't Need Patents
To say that without a patent system we would be in the dark ages is ridiculous.
You wrote "do you think I would waste my money on inventory if I knew someone else could copy it and be in the market the next day?". Well, capitalism is about competition not monopolies. If you invent something and it can be copied easily and you can't derive any revenue from it - to bad. Think of it as an altruistic act that benefits society, and by the way thanks for helping to promote progress in the science and arts. Society might even give you a plaque for your public service.
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Bill Gates would be nowhere if Apple or Xerox patented their ideas and sued Bill. Remember Bill stole his OS basically from Apple who stole it from Xerox. And we don't know where they got it.
Microsoft became the dominant OS because of four things. One, Apple was on a proprietary system. Two, Linux was basically useless to the end user. Three, Bill Gates is one hell of a marketer. Four, rampant pirating of Windows.
Patents had nothing to do with it.
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Patent It! The Online patent abuse game...
* Direct resources away from productive research and instead towards strategic accumulation of patents already filed over innovations already deployed
* Divert resources to "defensive patenting" or securing offensive "blocking patents
* Direct research away from areas of existing patents that should not have been granted
* Direct resources toward acquiring and enforcing substandard patents and collecting royalties rather than other more-productive fields of economic activity.
This is such a neat list! Somebody should make an online game wherein people use these activities to gain points and quash their opponents.
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current pattent law
However the way patents are curently does stifle inovation.
Companies use patents as a way to thwart new and upcoming companies that don't have the means to have the searches done to see if there idea was already thought up. Companies also patent things that realy should not be able to be patented.
a reform to the current system realy does need to be put into place. I belive we need to make what you can patent and how long the patent lasts shorter. Personaly I think 5 to 10 years is the maximum for IP type patents that are used in the computer industry. Most software makes its profits back in the first year so 5 years is plenty of time to hold off the compitetion from stealing your ideas without you being able to make money off your investment.
physical type patents do take a little longer to recoupe the investment and so they should be protected longer thus 5 years for software type ip and 10 years for hardware ip.
chemical proces I don't know enough about how long it takes to recoup on general the investment.
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