Patents Don't Pay

tarball_tinkerbell sends us to the NY Times for word on a book due out next year that claims that beginning in the late 1990s, on average patents cost companies more than they earned them. A big exception was pharmaceuticals, which accounted for 2/3 of the revenues attributable to patents. The authors of the book Do Patents Work? (synopsis and sample chapters), James Bessen and Michael J. Meurer of the Boston University School of Law, have crunched the numbers and say that, especially in the IT industry, patents no longer make economic sense. Their views are less radical than those of a pair of Washington University at St. Louis economists who argue that the patent system should be abolished outright.

Comments

Patents

[Anonymous Coward]

Patents, online rights, copyright, privacy, piracy.... who the fuck cares what you report any more?

http://www.fsdaily.com/Opposition/Misleading_Infor mationWeek_GPLv3_article/

It doesn't matter what the subject is, trust Slashdot to spread a whole bunch of FUD and lies.

There is simply no way to mistake this for consistent ineptitude any more, it is malicious disinformation and rabble rousing. This site has become one of the most blatent sources of disinformation on the internet.

Re:How is he determinig profit?

[value_added]

vis-a-vie patent portfolios

I think you meant vis-a-vis?

Or perhaps more correctly, vis-à-vis. Old French meaning face to face, IIRC. "Vie" is a different word altogether.

Not sure about "determinig". ;-)