Cato Institute Critique of Software Patents

binarybits writes "I've written an article for the free-market Cato Institute about how patents impede innovation in the software industry. It points out that people tend not to realize how vast the software industry is. It's not just Google and Microsoft; virtually every organization has an IT department producing potentially-infringing software. Organizations as diverse as J. Crew and the Green Bay Packers have been sued for patent infringement. It's crazy to expect all these organizations to worry about potential patent infringement. Hopefully the Supreme Court's Bilski decision will lead to new limits on software patents."

Comments

Arguments about the public good to CATO?

[Improv]

To CATO? "I have never seen a more wretched hive of scum and villainy"... these are the people who propose dismantling all that is good in the state in favour of entrenched power interests. The public good, unless all one cares about is a public good that demands no virtue, no sacrifices, is far from their mind.