After an incredibly useful review of software innovations, David Wheeler critiques software patents:- most of the important software innovations were never patented
- many software innovators oppose software patents
- the majority of professional programmers (10:1 ratio) believe that software patents impede software development
- the majority of professional programmers (2:1) believe that software patents should be abolished
- statistical evidence shows that as patents increase innovations decrease
- patents cause serious problems in creating and implementing standards
- all W3C standards are royalty free
- patents are often awarded for non innovative ideas
- there are no incentives for anyone in the patent process to reject bogus patents
- patents increase customer costs
- patent examiners have a poor database of prior art
- the reason the internet protocols took hold so quickly is because Cerf and Kahn made no intellectual property claim
- research shows that companies which are increasingly patenting software are also decreasing their R&D
- the vast majority of software patents are obtained by firms outside of the software industry
- software patents prevent new ideas from becoming available to end users
- the only group that is unambiguously aided by software patents are patent lawyers
- software patents have nothing to do with software innovation
Links:
League of Programming Freedom
Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure
Patently absurd
Patent nonsense
