> Lee Daniel Crocker, <lcrocker@mercury.colossus.net>, writes:
> > A large percentage of the people on this list are software developers.
> > I suspect there are several hundred years experience in the field (I
> > account for about 20 of them). Does anyone here really think that
> > investment in software companies is due to software patents? I doubt
> > it strongly. Software patents are sand in the gears of progress, not
> > grease. I think even supporters or agnostics to the idea would agree
> > that they played little or no positive role in the industry.
>
> I don't think that investment in software companies is "due to" software
> patents, exclusively. But it is can be an important consideration
> for investors. A company with a strong intellectual property position
> generally has an easier time attracting investors than one whose designs
> can be freely copied. Companies usually do play up their IP protection
> possibilities in their investment literature.
Yes, it's true I have a much harder problem arguing against copyrights
for software--and most of the intellectual property investors look at
for software companies would be copyrights and trademarks rather than
patents (though I suppose there are a few exceptions).
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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