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CONTENT SYNDICATION 
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CONTENT SYNDICATION
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Search in IPJUR.COM
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BLOG@IP::JURPatent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.
Monday, October 15, 2007Prominent Critic of Patent System Wins Nobel Prize.US economists Mr Leonid Hurwicz, Mr Eric Maskin and Mr Roger Myerson have won the Nobel prize for economics, BBC reports.Mr Maskin is well-known for his critics concerning the patent system. Take, for example, the paper written in 1999 by Mr James Bessen and Mr Eric Maskin on Sequential Innovation:"[...] How could such industries as software, semiconductors, and computers have been so innovative despite historically weak patent protection? We argue that if innovation is both sequential and complementary - as it certainly has been in those industries - competition can increase firms' future profits thus offsetting short-term dissipation of rents. A simple model also shows that in such a dynamic industry, patent protection may reduce overall innovation and social welfare. The natural experiment that occurred when patent protection was extended to software in the 1980's provides a test of this model. Standard arguments would predict that R&D intensity and productivity should have increased among patenting firms. Consistent with our model, however, these increases did not occur. Other evidence supporting our model includes a distinctive pattern of cross-licensing in these industries and a positive relationship between rates of innovation and firm entry. [...]"Awarding the Nobel prize does not automatically mean that such theories are ever interpreted correctly. However, this decision of the Nobel committee shows how far theories dealing with the patent system in a rather inclement way are mainstream amongst scholars in the field of economy. See further information on Mr Maskin's relationship with the patent system here.Technorati Tags:  Patents
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