I'll continue to explain that the U.S.A.'s apparent high level of software innovation cannot be used to prove anything about what (lack of) software patents do for the software innovation level.
For example, in the US there's a cultural positive bias towards risk taking. Someone who has piloted a bankrupt company is not automatically presumed to be an incompetent idiot. In Europe, most people automatically associate such a person with incompetence. This has practical ramifications; for example, finding investors for anything that's still purely in the idea phase is far more difficult and gets you far less money in trade for far more equity. I could come up with many more such nuances about factors that heavily influence software innovation levels which are unrelated to the patent issue. i.e. the nature of universities in the US vs. Europe. All we can establish is that the following is most likely true: The effect on software innovation of software patent law is the same order of magnitude as, or a lower order of magnitude as cultural and traditional effects. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
