Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2004
ISSN
0007-7011
Publisher
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Language
en-US
Abstract
Over the past two decades, the scope of technologies that can be patented has been expanded to include many items previously thought unsuitable for patenting, for example, computer software. Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants 20,000 or more software patents a year. Conventional wisdom holds that extending patent protection to computer programs will stimulate research and development and, thus, increase the rate of innovation. In this article, Bob Hunt and Jim Bessen investigate whether this has, in fact, happened. They describe the spectacular growth in software patenting, who obtains patents, and the relationship between a sharp focus on software patenting and firms' investment in R&D.
Recommended Citation
Robert M. Hunt & James Bessen,
The Software Patent Experiment
,
in
2004
Business Review
22
(2004).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3639
