Since this report I have been trying to advance the level of debate about
this area of policy. In December 2004 I opened an area of the Digital
Copyright Canada website to focus on Information/Mental
Process Patents.
December 15, 2004: Access to Information request for chapter 26 of the
Manual
of Patent Office Practices (MOPOP) drafted for the review of computer
implemented inventions and business methods.
We should return to first principles and question any assumptions.
Patent policy should be evaluated as economic public policy, not something
that should be left to legal analysis (within government or within
business)
Each type of subject matter should have independent economic analysis
recognizing differences. Broadly, software (information processes) is
very different from hardware (manufacturing processes).
The FTC report on
patents and competition - "In its quietly-stated, deeply-researched
governmental way, its conclusions are fascinating and devastating:
positive effects of software patents are questionable at best; but
software patents have serious negative effects on competition -- and
competition, not patentability, is what drives innovation in this sector."
Relevant past submissions to government consultations
