A couple of days ago, Red Hat filed a brief with the EPO (European Patent Office), arguing that patents hinder software innovation (as masterfully summarized by Glynn Moody). From Red Hat’s press release:
Today Red Hat took its efforts to confront the problem of software patents to new ground by filing a brief with the European Patent Office. The brief explains that software patents hinder software innovation, and that there is a sound legal basis not to expand availability of such patents in Europe.
I particularly liked that Red Hat uses Amit Deshpande’s and my work on the Total Growth of Open Source software as evidence of the significance of open source. An added bonus is that our little academic paper is referenced right next to the work of one of my heroes, Eric von Hippel’s Democratizing Innovation.
The good news is that I have tons of material to make an even stronger case for the economic significance and future impact of open source. The bad news is that time and resources are in short supply… but that will change eventually.
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