Monday, June 28, 2010

Patents seen as low priority for software firms

Tom Abate's San Francisco Chronicle article, "Patents seen as low priority for software firms" discusses the paper written by Stuart J. H. Graham, Robert P. Merges, Pamela Samuelson and Ted M. Sichelman, "High Technology Entrepreneurs and the Patent System: Results of the 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey."

The article quotes Pamela Samuelson:
"More than 80 percent of the biotech, medical device and hardware firms we surveyed have or have applied for patents. . . About two-thirds of software firms have no patents and have not applied for any."

The study is also discussed by Phyorg, Broadbandbreakfast and Canadaviews.