Universities warn Congress that patent reform would harm US innovation

Thanks for the links. A couple of new papers to read there.

FWIW, my assertion that Watt held up development of the high-pressure steam engine and thus the locomotive came from Mokyr, not from Boldrin and Levine. I hold Mokyr in pretty high esteem, so I trust his interpretation, but I have not read the primary sources myself. It's interesting that the paper you mention has had almost no cites...even though it mentions that Mokyr et al commented on it. If they believed it threatened their views, you would think they would respond.

I tried to be evenhanded with the last paper by cutting to a neutral quote. I agree with your interpretation, but what that says to me is that patents are, on average, neither good nor bad for a startup. The plethora of papers arguing one way or the other, almost all with some flawed methodology (c.f. "do patents cause more patents to be filed?" or "why doesn't stronger patent law cause more patents to be filed?", etc.) says to me that there is not yet an answer to this question. This is a problem because patent law consumes a ton of resources, so there should be a rather more definitive answer about its efficacy. (It also seems eminently answerable, albeit with a lot more work defining and collecting metrics; I think, given that academics generally despise "business" questions, that simply counting patents is about all the work they are willing to do. That last paper I cited is the most actual roll-up-your-sleeves work I have seen addressing the question.)

My slant comes from 30+ years in the computer industry, 20 of it backing startups. My general rule of thumb is that if a founder's pitch puts a ton of emphasis on their patents, I pass. Patents have simply proved an ineffective way to defend a new business, in my experience.

Of course, if I were in a discovery-based business, like pharma, rather than an engineering-based business, I would have seen a different sequence of events and so have a different opinion.

> It's interesting that the paper you mention has had almost no cites

I assume you mean the "Strong Steam" paper? I guess it is not as highly cited since most simply don't question the myth and cite those that propagate the myth instead. However, the paper is well-researched and compelling. I also found it a surprisingly good read, fascinating for the historical perspective it offers of technology and industry at the time.

> If they believed it threatened their views, you would think they would respond.

I'm not sure about Mokyr, but Boldrin and Levine did respond, and as the second paper shows, they responded by simply changing their falsehoods.

I mostly agree with your views on the papers in this field. However, I don't think the question is easily answerable because from most of the papers I've read, comparing the benefits and costs of patents is like comparing apples and oranges.

> Patents have simply proved an ineffective way to defend a new business, in my experience.

I actually agree. My experience comes from a startup that was ripped off by the big guys and prevailed with patents, but only after it almost died and most of the original team was laid off. As such the patents could not defend the business, and were only good for some after-the-fact remediation.

To me, this makes it seem like patent law needs to be strengthened to avoid such cases, but more and more "patent reform" is all about making it easier for the big guys to defend themselves.