Mark A. Lemley on software patents
Mark A. Lemley is a Professor in the USA who has published many papers and articles on patents and software patents.
His articles contain useful information and he highlights interesting problems. They are worth reading, but his suggestions are minimal. For example, in a 2001 paper he suggested that the Doctrine of Equivalents should be interpreted narrowly for software[1] i.e. only a very high similarity of someone's software and someone else's patent should constitute infringement. The problem with this is that software has to be compatible with the other software on someone's computer, and the with the software that the person's co-workers and friends are using. Compatibility requires more than similarity, it requires identical behaviour, so Lemley's suggestion would have no effect on what is probably the biggest problem caused by software patents.
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- Patent Quality and Settlement Among Repeat Patent Litigants - a 2010 study conducted by Lemley, with Allison and Walker, showing that software patent quality is terrible
External links
- Ignoring Patents (paper, 2007) - "both researchers and companies in component industries simply ignore patents."
- Where to File Your Patent Case (paper, 2010)
- Patent Litigation Forum Shopping, 7 May 2010, Patently-O discussion of Lemley's paper (See also: forum shopping)
- The Myth of the Sole Inventor (paper, 2011) - "[...] Invention appears in significant part to be a social, not an individual, phenomenon. Inventors build on the work of those who came before, and new ideas are often "in the air," or result from changes in market demand or the availability of new or cheaper starting materials. [...]"
- Patent Scope and Innovation in the Software Industry, Jan 2001, with Julie E. Cohen
