Summary: can anyone point me to studies about the economic effects or
justifications of patents, particularly in the software industry?
...
The European Commission has been lobbied for years to make a little law
to extend patent protectionism to cover software patents. Happily, free
software advocates have been counter-lobbying, and the EC has been
postponing decision, although all the official texts display a neat bias
towards conceding more privileges.
Lately, the EC has launched a consultation to legitimate whatever decision
it may take. It is a crucial opportunity to make a point against the
protectionist myths. After the end of the consultation, it will be too late.
So, my request on this list is, do you know of any study or analysis made
by respectable economists about the net effect of patents (particularly
software patents) on the (macro)economy ? I know about Henri Lepage and
Bertrand Lemennicier's works, but would greatly appreciate other literature
that would confirm their conclusions.
http://petition.eurolinux.org/consultation/
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/indprop/softpaten.htm
I am myself writing a paper on said topic, of which I'll post a URL on this
list (unless discouraged by private e-mail). The difficulty is to develop
arguments that are ultimately libertarian, whereas libertarian ideology is
almost unanimously frowned upon, and maybe particularly so in european
bureaucracy.
The goal of this message is to invite you to either participate directly
in the consultation, or otherwise help me defend freedom by giving pointers
to relevant documents.
Yours freely,
[ Fran�ois-Ren� �VB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ]
[ TUNES project for a Free Reflective Computing System | http://tunes.org ]
The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be
skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended. -- F. Bastiat
