A couple of months ago I posted some thoughts about the recent Microsoft win in a "look and feel" patent case. It reminded me of some earlier cases that I thought were questionable. But I did express support for the idea of protecting intellectual property by patents.
Now I'm not so sure.
I just skimmed through an interesting working paper by two authors from the research division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The authors, Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine have written "The Case Against Patents," challenging the idea that patants encourage innovation. Instead, they claim that patents stifle innovation.
Economist Mark Thoma provides a link to the paper here on his blog, "Economists View."
Incidentally, I am writing this on a computer using the Linux operating system (free) and open source software (free) that is more stable and reliable than Microsoft's proprietary products and in most ways more powerful.
Boldrin and Levine make a good case.
I still like copyrights, but I think our copyright law has gone overboard, as well.
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