Software Patents
Jules Theeuwes
University of Amsterdam Scientific Council for Government Policies
Open Forum on Draft SPLT Geneva, Friday, March 3, 2006
Topics
Dutch position on software patents Economic Analysis of Patent Law Different Life for Software Patents? Evaluation
Dutch position on software patents
Same regime as other patents “Socially acceptable”
No trivial patents Doubts about business methods Stress interoperability Level playing field (SME)
Economic analysis of patent life
Balance between benefits and cost to society Benefits:
More invention, creativity, R&D But at decreasing rate over time
Costs
Monopoly losses Limits to further developments At an increasing rate over time
Costs and benefits of patent life
€
MSC
MSB
T*
Patent Life (years)
Different life for software patents?
Returns to scale kick in immediately Exclusive rights on standards very costly Relation to innovation is maybe weak Patent battle: costly equilibrium
Cost of being different
More transaction costs More confusion in the courts Substitution to computer implemented inventions (hardware)
Conclusions
Take a second look at Dutch position Do cost benefit analysis