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Who owns software patents
This page is for looking into who holds software patents - big companies? small? local? foreign? etc.
Contents
SMEs or large corporations?
The 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey found that only 25% of software companies less than 10 years old had patents.[1]
A 2004 study by the BSA (which lobbies for software patents) showed that only 20% of software patents granted in Europe are to small businesses.[2] (In that study, they used the term "computer-implemented inventions", but they clarified near the beginning that it was a synonym for "software patents")
Can you help? Can someone check how they measure the following numbers
According to this study, small companies patent 13 to 14 times more than big companies:
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- Why software is different
- An Empirical Look at Software Patents - in that study there's a section on this
- Which sectors are for and against
- Why companies apply for software patents
- 2008 Berkeley Patent Survey - about ownership of patents among companies less than 10 years old in the USA
External links
In the USA
- Top 150 "Customers": Increasing Domination of the Patent System
- Since 2008, most US patents go to non-US companies
- IBM and Microsoft are numbers 1 and 3 for overall patent grants
In Europe
- Per-company statistics
- Per-country statistics
- Page with per-country pie chart at end
- Interview mentioning that 3% of patent applicants own 50% of the patents granted by the EPO, good quotes
References
- ↑ "Patenting by Entrepreneurs: The Berkeley Patent Survey (Part I of III)". http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2010/07/patenting-by-entrepreneurs-the-berkeley-patent-survey-part-i-of-iii-1.html. "As expected, this figure varies widely by industry—for example, 97% of venture-backed biotechnology companies hold patents or applications, while only 67% of venture-backed software startups do. And among the general population of software startups responding, the rate was only about 25%."
- ↑ "BSA figures do not add up". http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/it-strategy/2005/06/24/bsa-figures-do-not-add-up-39205463/. "A recent study by the Business Software Alliance indicates that SMEs account for 20% of all CII (Computer Implemented Inventions) patents granted since 1998"
