Business and Financial Method Patents, Innovation, and Policy

Bronwyn Hall

No 14868, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Two court decisions in the 1990s are widely viewed as having opened the door to a flood of business method and financial patents at the US Patent and Trademark Office, and to have also impacted other patent offices around the world. A number of scholars, both legal and economic, have critiqued both the quality of these patents and the decisions themselves. This paper reviews the history of business method and financial patents briefly and then explores what economists know about the relationship between the patent system and innovation, in order to draw some tentative conclusions about their likely impact. It concludes by finding some consensus in the literature about the problems associated with this particular expansion of patentable subject matter, highlighting the remaining areas of disagreement, and reviewing the various policy recommendations.

JEL-codes: G28 K2 L86 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-ino, nep-ipr and nep-pr~
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References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

Published as Bronwyn H. Hall, 2009. "Business And Financial Method Patents, Innovation, And Policy," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(s1), pages 443-473, 09.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Business and financial method patents, innovation, and policy (2010)
Journal Article: BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL METHOD PATENTS, INNOVATION, AND POLICY (2009)
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