Critic of Software Patents Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

doom writes "You've probably already heard that the Nobel Prize for Economics was given to three gents who were working on advances in mechanism design theory. What you may not have heard is what one of those recipients was using that theory to study: 'One recent subject of Professor Maskin's wide-ranging research has been on the value of software patents. He determined that software was a market where innovations tended to be sequential, in that they were built closely on the work of predecessors, and innovators could take many different paths to the same goal. In such markets, he said, patents might serve as a wall that inhibited innovation rather than stimulating progress.' Here's one of Maskin's papers on the subject: Sequential Innovation, Patents, limitation (pdf).

Comments

Thats all nice, but

[should_be_linear]

since when geniuos minds play any significant role in politics? I imagine politician thinking "This guy would would give me half a million if I support software patents BUT there is this famous research study... Oh god, if I only could support both!".

Re:Not Nobel Prize in Economics

[djmurdoch]

Honestly any economist who doesn't recognize the value of creating and protecting intellectual property rights in an information economy is a POORLY trained economist.

As far as I can see, Maskin isn't against IP, only patents. His article says "copyright protection for software programs (which has gone through its own evolution over the last decade) may have achieved a better balance than patent protection." Copyright is IP too.

Re:Not Nobel Prize in Economics

[A beautiful mind]

Seconded. The Nobel Prize in Economics is NOT a real Nobel, and is awarded by the socialist Swedish central bank. Their awards are biased.

Honestly any economist who doesn't recognize the value of creating and protecting intellectual property rights in an information economy is a POORLY trained economist. Hernando de Soto has pegged a lack of real property rights as the primary issue that prevents wealth from being created in the third world (agricultural economies). It follows that in economies (such as the US/Europe) which derive their wealth, more and more, from intellectual property, that the ability to protect those rights is ultimately to our benefit.

Not to rain on your parade but you seem pretty biased or to be more accurate parroting certain right-wing dogmas. Intellectual property doesn't exist. It is an umbrella term at best, but mostly it is a word designed to mislead and cause confusion. The value created by creating and protecting patents and to a lesser extent copyrights is seriously outweighed by the bad effects of giving a monopoly on specific information or methods to private companies or persons.

Copyright and patents do not create wealth, they make all of us poorer, because they tend to inhibit progress as the professor who got the Nobel has shown in the specific case of patents and the IT industry.

Also, quoting wikipedia:

The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), usually called the "Nobel Prize in Economics", is a prize awarded each year for outstanding intellectual contributions in the field of economics. The prize is generally considered the most prestigious honor in economics.

Re:Has anyone else noticed...

[knight24k]

But when a software product progresses with little or no competition to speak of, it's innovation stops, it gets bigger, slower and more bloated.

I guess that explains Vista.

Re:Not Nobel Prize in Economics

[Tim C]

Of course you realise that every single one of those economies started out by vigorously ignoring IP, especially that of other nations, until such time as it had some of its own to protect and only then implemented its own IP-related laws, don't you?

You do also realise that there are many other factors in why the US and Europe, Japan, etc are more prosperous than third world countries, don't you, and that blaming it all on a lack of IP laws is simplistic almost beyond belief?

What is obvious to the dev community...

[zullnero]

Is mindblowing to the average person. This is the sort of paper that really needs to be distributed as much as possible (but rewritten to be understandable to the layman), because there really needs to be a great deal of political support for such an exemption from the patent process here. The biggest problem is that the software industry has already defined a piece of software as a patentable product, similar to a car or a monitor, and the general populace believes that to be true. However, you don't make a new car by tearing out the carburetor of a 1995 Ford, clean it up, add a couple parts from a 2002 Chevy to it, and stick it into your new car. However, that is precisely how software is generally made. There's your layman's explanation right there.

Re:Has anyone else noticed...

[foniksonik]

Have you looked at DNA lately? In the ancient bacteria, fossil fishes and fungi of the world the DNA is svelte and cleanly coded.... all streamlined to do a few tasks very efficiently, then move forward a few billion years and you get rats and primates.... all bloated with junk and things like consciousness that are completely unnecessary to survival, just bells and whistles really.

I'm not sure what it is you're arguing against.. sounds like you're agreeing with parent post 100% ;-p

p.s. so when is the bloat in our software going to self-actualize and become our computer's soul? I hope it's not based on Windows... what a freakin mess that would be, all freaked out about security, indecisive and completely self-conscious about being genuine... ugh it probably WILL be windows, that sounds like 99% of the people I know.