
Patents DO Foster Innovation – Study Proves - nitin_flanker
http://www.greyb.com/4-statistics-prove-patenting-system-good/
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maker1138
I don't buy it. Another study showed a net loss:

[https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140416/04183626928/paten...](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140416/04183626928/patent-
litigation-cost-us-business-about-trillion-dollars-quarter-century-
outweighing-benefits.shtml)

It's humorous that they trot out the definition of innovation: "make changes
in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas or
products" A patent explicitly forbids you to make changes on something already
established. Want to make an innovation on a processor that already exists?
Sorry, patent! You'll have to wait nearly 2 decades to make your innovation.

Plus it just doesn't pass the smell test. They're basically claiming that if
companies spent billions of more dollars on innovation instead of patent
litigation we would have _less_ innovation!?

The j-core open processor and RISC-V instruction set are only possible because
of patents that expired. Imagine what web development would be like if someone
had patented using xmlhttprequest to update the DOM and info in the DOM. Would
innovation have increased or lagged?

Patents quite literally create monopolies. If monopolies are so good, why does
anti-trust exist? I think it's quite obvious that patents stifle innovation.
Oh yes, they may provide a legal method for people to rent-seek, and make lots
of money through extraction, but they definitely slow the rate of innovation.

