I think you are right that patents aren't killing innovation in the US. This is pretty obvious as most of the innovations seems to stem from the US - esp the silicon valley area. Look at the location of the top 20 market cap tech companies that have formed in the last 10 years if you want proof.
BUT - I've never seen any evidence that patents have a positive effect innovation in software. Software is largely built on the work of others' ideas. We just expand on them, with a few new ones sprinkled in along the way. Luckily, most software patents are never enforced. This is good as I would wager every single person on this forum has violated many software patents. Like this one: http://www.google.com/patents/US7028023 I think it's naive to think that it's possible for the US patent office to manage software patents. They are inherently abstract and largely very difficult to understand. Does anyone really think that the USPO attracts the quality of computer scientists needed to make reasonable judgements? So from a purely pragmatic point of view, I think software patents should be abolished. They only lead to silly/expenseive lawsuits/patent wars. Small companies can't afford to apply/defend their patents. The winners are largely lawyers. And once in a while a big company crushes someone via a lawsuit. Lastly, it's good for the industry and customers when someone comes along, inspired by someone else's work - but knows they can improve on it. Would the world be better if Yahoo locked up search in 1995 and Google couldn't do search because of some software patent on "internet search"? Google came along, destroyed Yahoo, created tens of thousands of jobs, hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth, and provided a much better search experience for users. Yeah, it sucks for Yahoo - but they had the chance to beat Google and the best product/company won. On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 8:48 AM, Cédric Beust ♔ <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 7:28 AM, Josh Berry <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Not to mention your view is pretty insulting to China. Do you really >> believe there is no innovation over there? > > > Of course not, it's just that if you survey the software companies regarded > as being the most innovative over the past decades, you will probably find > that a crushing majority originated in the US and very few in China. > > This shouldn't come as a surprise: since there is no patent pressure, the > incentive to innovate is minimal: just copy whatever you want, add your own > touch and call it a day. > > -- > Cédric > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "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. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "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.
