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Patents are deemed by executives at software and internet start-ups as the least important way of boosting competitive advantage, according to a forthcoming survey of more than a thousand companies by the University of California’s Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.
The authors of the study note that a key finding of the survey is that patents are seen as more of a way to limit competition and to attract investment capital rather than to innovate, which is the key economic assumption powering the patent system.
“The capital formation finding is noteworthy, because it’s an aspect of the patent system that has not been systematically established and explored in prior research,” said report co-author and Berkeley Law Professor Robert Merges.