“Most patent holders cling to them as a source of life and defend them against all encroachment. Some businesses build up their war chests with patents as purely defensive measures. The more you own, the more you can intimidate your competitors to stay out of your territory. So how important are patents in generating innovation? The answer is not much, according to four economists from the Technical University of Lisbon. Their findings are remarkable: Nine in 10 of the innovations were never patented. They were just created and marketed, and changed the world.”
http://lfb.org/today/does-innovation-require-the-patent-office/
Related posts:
Why a pizza can’t fly
Yes, We Live in a Communist Country
The Social Deterioration of Funny, Floating Money
What can you buy from the IRS for $50,000?
Note to Fed: Giving the Banks Free Money Won't Make Us Hire More Workers
Bill Bonner: Promises Will Be Broken
Snowden leaks: the real take-home
Never Forget 9/11... And Never Stop Asking What It Really Was
Surrendering U.S. Citizenship Over New Banking Regulation?
The $4 Trillion Money Printing Press
China plans to turn itself into a country of 19 super-regions
America’s Gulag
ICANN: How top-down ‘implementation’ replaced bottom-up policymaking
All the Value of Gold in the Palm of Your Hand
Jacob Hornberger: Shut Down the Nonessential Drug War