October 2012 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Fwd: [A2k] Boldrin/Levine-(Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Working Paper)-The Case Against Patents

by J.C. DE MARTIN

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [A2k] Boldrin/Levine-(Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Working Paper)-The Case Against Patents Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2012 11:14:39 +0200 From: Thirukumaran Balasubramaniam <thiru(a)keionline.org> To: a2k(a)lists.keionline.org, Ip-health(a)lists.keionline.org This piece was cited in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/patent-wars-among-tech-giants-…) and the Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/the-case-for-abolishing…) -- http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2012/2012-035.pdf The Case Against Patents Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine Working Paper 2012-035A http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2012/2012-035.pdf September 2012 FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ST. LOUIS Research Division P.O. Box 442 St. Louis, MO 63166 The views expressed are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Federal Reserve System, or the Board of Governors. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Working Papers are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment. References in publications to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Working Papers (other than an acknowledgment that the writer has had access to unpublished material) should be cleared with the author or authors. -- "The Case Against Patents Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine First draft: January 29, 2012 This draft: June 29, 2012 1. Introduction The case against patents can be summarized briefly: there is no empirical evidence that they serve to increase innovation and productivity, unless the latter is identified with the number of patents awarded – which, as evidence shows, has no correlation with measured productivity. This is at the root of the “patent puzzle”: in spite of the enormeous increase in the number of patents and in the strength of their legal protection we have neither seen a dramatic acceleration in the rate of technological progress nor a major increase in the levels of R&D expenditure – in addition to the discussion in this paper, see Lerner [2009] and literature therein. As we shall see, there is strong evidence, instead, that patents have many negative consequences. Both of these observations, the evidence in support of which has grown steadily over time, are consistent with theories of innovation that emphasize competition and first-mover advantage as the main drivers of innovation and directly contradict “Schumpeterian” theories postulating that government granted monopolies are crucial in order to provide incentives for innovation. The differing predictive and explanatory powers of the two alternative classes of models persist when attention is shifted to the historical evidence on the life-cycle of industries. The initial eruption of small and large innovations leading to the creation of a new industry – from chemicals to cars, from radio and TV to personal computers and investment banking – is seldom, if ever, born out of patent protection and is, instead, the fruits of highly competitive-cooperative environments. It is only after the initial stages of explosive innovation and rampant growth end that mature industries turn toward the legal protection of patents, usually because their internal grow potential diminishes and the industry structure become concentrated. A more subtle point is that secrecy may bias the type of inventive activity away from innovations that are not easily kept secret to those that can be, vice versa for patents. There is historical evidence from Moser [2004, 2005] in this direction. In 19th Century expositions of inventions, while countries without patent systems had overall rates of innovation similar to those with a patent system, they did specialize in innovations which were more easily kept secret. How strong this bias would be if no countries had patent systems – that is, whether it is true that patents encourage innovations that would not otherwise be made, or if they just shift the location of innovation from country to country – is not known. The related idea that patents somehow improve communication about ideas – a notion key to the “public-private” partnership between governments and private research organization in which the government funds the research and then gives the private organization a monopoly over anything developed in the course of research – is backed neither by theory or evidence. It is impossible to study the history of innovation without recognizing that inventors and innovators exchange ideas as a matter of course and that secrecy occurs, in those cases in which it occurs, only in the final stages of an innovation process, when some ambitious inventors hope to corner the market for a functioning device by patenting it. <SNIP> The market for software and hardware may be viewed as a somewhat special case. Generally the fixed cost of producing software is low – although it is estimated that Apple spent 150 million USD developing the iPhone. This, however, pales in comparison to the cost of developing new medicines – which is estimated to have a present value of closer to 1 billion USD – the same way it does in front of that for developing a new model of automobile, which is in the same range. Interestingly it is also true that – according to both survey and anecdotal evidence – patents play an important role in encouraging innovation in the pharmaceutical industry while playing a minor one in that of cars, insofar as new components and even plants are often developed by consortia or joint-ventures of otherwise fiercely competitive producers marketing different automobile’s brands. The relevance of patents in the pharmaceutical industry – then, and contrary to “Schumpeterian” theories – is most likely not due to the high fixed costs but rather the fact that disclosure in the case of drugs is more meaningful than in that of cars and most other products. The chemical formula and the efficacy of the cure as established by clinical trials are available to competitors essentially for free and it is the second (a public good, privately produced due to a political choice) that accounts for about 80% of the initial fixed cost. On the other side, the downstream cost of monopoly pricing of pharmaceutical products is much higher for life-saving drugs, and the cost of monopoly pricing of other pharmaceutical products is also quite high. Hence various economists, holding differring views about intellectual property, have nevertheless argued that if government intervention is indeed needed in this market a system of prizes would be far superior to the existing system of monopolies. <SNIP> We have made mention of the loss of human life due to the pricing of AIDS drugs. More revealing is the empirical study of the Quinolones family of drugs (Chaudhuri, et al. [2006]). It measures the economic consequences to India of the introduction of pharmaceutical patents for this family of drugs and concludes that the consequence to third world India will be nearly 300 million USD in welfare losses – while the gain to the first world pharmaceutical companies will be less than 20 million USD. <SNIP> In 1958 the distinguished economist Fritz Machlup in a report to Congress famously said 'If we did not have a patent system, it would be irresponsible, on the basis of our present knowledge of its economic consequences, to recommend instituting one. But since we have had a patent system for a long time, it would be irresponsible, on the basis of our present knowledge, to recommend abolishing it.' One might imagine that if it would be irresponsible to recommend abolishing it, it would be even more irresponsible to further extend it. Moreover, one might hope that if it is indeed worth preserving such a large government intrusion into private activity that that during the intervening six decades evidence would emerge that patents do indeed serve the desired purpose of encouraging innovation. Sadly the story of the past six decades is the opposite. In new industries such as biotechnology and software where innovation was thriving in the absence of patents – patents have been introduced. Given this continued extension has there been a substantial increase in innovation in recent years? On the contary, it is apparent that the recent explosion of patents in the U.S., the E.U. and Japan, has not brought about anything comparable in terms of useful innovations and aggregate productivity. Abolishing patents may seem “pie-in-the-sky” and there are certainly many interim measures that can be taken to mitigate the damage: properly interpreting obviousness, requiring genuine disclosure of working methods and an independent invention defense against patent infringement are useful and – among economists – relatively uncontroversial measures. But why use a band-aid to staunch a major wound? Economists fought for decades – and ultimately with great success – to abolish trade restrictions. It will not escape the careful reader that patents are very much akin to trade restrictions as they prevent the free entry of competitors in national markets, thereby reducing the growth of productive capacity and slowing down economic growth. The same way that trade restrictions were progressively reduced until reaching (almost complete) abolition, a similar (albeit, hopefully less slow) approach should be adopted to “get rid” of patents. Moreover the nature of patents as time-limited makes it relatively easy to phase them out by phasing in ever shorter patent durations. This conservative approach has also the advantage that if reducing patent terms indeed has a catastrophic effect on innovation the process can easily be reversed. <SNIP> There are of course many transitional issues to be worked out. This is particularly the case withrespect to pharmaceutical products where patents are only one piece of a complicated regulatory jungle including the approval process and the market exclusivity protections all of which would need to be adjusted as patents are phased out. Because policy proposals are better digested and metabolized when served in the form of small pills, here is our list of small reforms that could be easily implemented. <SNIP> (6) Prizes and competition. An interesting approach is that of operating to change the role that the NSF and the NIH play in fostering innovation. The basic goal, in this case, is that of reversing the principle according to which federally financed investigation can lead to private patents. As a first step we would advocating going back to the old rule according to which the results of federally subsidized research cannot lead to the creation of new private monopolies but should be available to all market participants. This reform would be particularly useful for the pharmaceutical industry. (7) With regards to the latter, we advocate reforming pharmaceutical regulation to either treat stage II and III clinical trials as public goods (to be financed by NIH on a competitive basis) or by allowing the commercialization (at regulated prices equal to the economic costs) of drugs that satisfy the FDA requirements for safety even if they do not yet satisfy the current, over-demanding, requisites for proving efficacy. It is ensuring the efficacy—not the safety—of drugs that is most expensive, time-consuming and difficult. All the usual mechanisms of ensuring the safety of drugs would remain firmly in place. While pharmaceutical companies would be requested to sell new drugs at “economic cost” until efficacy is proved, they could start selling at market prices after that. In this way, companies would face strong incentives to conduct or fund appropriate efficacy studies where they deem the potential market for such drugs to be large enough to bear the additional costs. At the same time this “progressive” approval system would give cures for rare diseases the fighting chance they currently do not have. This solution would substantially reduce the risks and cost of developing new drugs. (8) If this progressive approval approach works for rare diseases, there is no reason is should not be adopted across the board. The current system favors a small number of blockbuster drugs that can be sold to millions of patients. The coming revolution in medicine will rely on carefully targeting hundreds or even thousands of drugs to the correct patients. But lawmakers must first usher in a new system that makes developing these precision treatments possible. The regulation reform we are suggesting would be a first important step to achieve such goal. The aim of policy, in general, should be that of slowly but surely decreasing the strength of intellectual property interventions but the final goal cannot be anything short of abolition. Once again, if at the times of Machlup one could still nurture doubts and wonder if the system could not be reformed in a credible and stable form, in 2012 one must ask: is not six decades of failure enough time? Is it not time to take seriously the idea of patent abolition and begin the discussion of these transitional issues?" -- Thiru Balasubramaniam Geneva Representative Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) thiru at keionline.org Tel: +41 22 791 6727 Mobile: +41 76 508 0997 _______________________________________________ A2k mailing list A2k(a)lists.keionline.org http://lists.keionline.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k_lists.keionline.org

Oct. 8, 2012

help - unsubscribe

by Juan Carlos Osorio

Please unsubscribeme. thanks. ________________________________ De: "nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it" <nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it> Para: nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it Enviado: Domingo, 7 de octubre, 2012 12:00 P.M. Asunto: nexa Digest, Vol 42, Issue 9 Send nexa mailing list submissions to nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it You can reach the person managing the list at nexa-owner(a)server-nexa.polito.it When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of nexa digest..." Today's Topics: 1. fra politici e non-politica (giorgio.giunchi(a)cctld.it) 2. fra politici e non-politica (giorgio.giunchi(a)cctld.it) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2012 13:21:38 +0200 From: <giorgio.giunchi(a)cctld.it> To: nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it Subject: [nexa] fra politici e non-politica Message-ID: <201210061121.q96BLeLg009307(a)vivaldi19.register.it> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Ho puntato il link nelle liste isoc, non ritengo improprio fare lo stesso in lista NEXA http://public.it/politica_scienza/html/i_treni_perduti.html E' la distribuzione di un testo cruciale e felicemente anticipatore [1991], di quelli proprio "da tenere sullo scrittoio", di Matta e Meo. Giorgio ::::::: P.S. Anche i muri sanno che Angelo Raffaele Meo "ha buttato il cuore oltre l' ostacolo" candidandosi al servizio di direzione Agenzia Italia Digitale. Francamente : per coloro che apprezzassero personalmente la candidatura, non vedo motivo prevalente di metodo [o di pudore] per non esporre cio' pubblicamente. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2012 13:22:04 +0200 From: <giorgio.giunchi(a)cctld.it> To: nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it Subject: [nexa] fra politici e non-politica Message-ID: <201210061122.q96BM6dp007020(a)vivaldi40.register.it> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Ho puntato il link nelle liste isoc, non ritengo improprio fare lo stesso in lista NEXA http://public.it/politica_scienza/html/i_treni_perduti.html E' la distribuzione di un testo cruciale e felicemente anticipatore [1991], di quelli proprio "da tenere sullo scrittoio", di Matta e Meo. Giorgio ::::::: P.S. Anche i muri sanno che Angelo Raffaele Meo "ha buttato il cuore oltre l' ostacolo" candidandosi al servizio di direzione Agenzia Italia Digitale. Francamente : per coloro che apprezzassero personalmente la candidatura, non vedo motivo prevalente di metodo [o di pudore] per non esporre cio' pubblicamente. ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ nexa mailing list nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa End of nexa Digest, Vol 42, Issue 9 ***********************************

Oct. 7, 2012

fra politici e non-politica

by giorgio.giunchi＠cctld.it

Ho puntato il link nelle liste isoc, non ritengo improprio fare lo stesso in lista NEXA http://public.it/politica_scienza/html/i_treni_perduti.html E' la distribuzione di un testo cruciale e felicemente anticipatore [1991], di quelli proprio "da tenere sullo scrittoio", di Matta e Meo. Giorgio ::::::: P.S. Anche i muri sanno che Angelo Raffaele Meo "ha buttato il cuore oltre l' ostacolo" candidandosi al servizio di direzione Agenzia Italia Digitale. Francamente : per coloro che apprezzassero personalmente la candidatura, non vedo motivo prevalente di metodo [o di pudore] per non esporre cio' pubblicamente.

Oct. 6, 2012

fra politici e non-politica

by giorgio.giunchi＠cctld.it

Ho puntato il link nelle liste isoc, non ritengo improprio fare lo stesso in lista NEXA http://public.it/politica_scienza/html/i_treni_perduti.html E' la distribuzione di un testo cruciale e felicemente anticipatore [1991], di quelli proprio "da tenere sullo scrittoio", di Matta e Meo. Giorgio ::::::: P.S. Anche i muri sanno che Angelo Raffaele Meo "ha buttato il cuore oltre l' ostacolo" candidandosi al servizio di direzione Agenzia Italia Digitale. Francamente : per coloro che apprezzassero personalmente la candidatura, non vedo motivo prevalente di metodo [o di pudore] per non esporre cio' pubblicamente.

Oct. 6, 2012

IGF / Conferenza Nexa / CC Celebration

by J.C. DE MARTIN

Cari Amici, come forse sapete quest'anno il Centro Nexa è molto coinvolto nell'organizzazione dell'Internet Governance Forum Italia 2012 (Torino, 18-20 ottobre, http://2012.igf-italia.it) E' un'iniziativa a cui crediamo molto e che siamo quindi molto felici di aver favorito e sostenuto. Dal momento però che il Centro Nexa ha risorse limitate, il nostro impegno IGF Italia implica che la Conferenza annuale Nexa 2012, che in genere si svolgeva verso fine anno, non avrà luogo. O meglio: per quest'anno vi invitiamo a vedere l'IGF Italia come il nostro appuntamento annuale col pubblico. Ciò detto, però, un appuntamento verso fine anno vorremmo comunque farlo, anche se di natura diversa. Il 16 dicembre, infatti, si celebreranno i dieci anni dal lancio di Creative Commons. Insieme ad alcune organizzazioni amiche, quindi, vorremmo fare una festa Creative Commons che celebri degnamente l'anniversario. In quell'occasione avrò anche il piacere di fare importanti annunci relativamente al gruppo di lavoro Creative Commons Italia. Vi inviterei dunque a segnarvi le date: IGF Italia, 18-20 ottobre 2012 CC Celebration, 15-16 dicembre 2012 sperando di vedervi numerosi in entrambe le occasioni. Un caro saluto, juan carlos de martin

Oct. 4, 2012

Re: [nexa] International Seminar on Intellectual Property and the Public Domain

by Simone Aliprandi

Molto interessante. Domanda un po' triste ma ahimè necessaria: è previsto accreditamento per la formazione forense? e in caso contrario sarà possibile quantomeno avere un attestato di partecipazione? Un caro saluto. S.A. > ANNUAL CONFERENCE > of the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property > > > International Seminar on Intellectual Property and the Public Domain > > *Wednesday, 10 October 2012**, 9 - 13:15* -- Simone Aliprandi - http://www.aliprandi.org

Oct. 3, 2012

International Seminar on Intellectual Property and the Public Domain, Turin - 10 October 2012

by Giuseppe Futia

ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property International Seminar on Intellectual Property and the Public Domain *Wednesday, 10 October 2012**, 9 - 13:15* *Venue: ITC ILO, Viale Maestri del lavoro 10 -- Turin** **Pavilion Piemonte -- first floor* jointly organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization, ITC ILO and the University of Turin http://nexa.polito.it/2012-llm-annual-conference During theMaster Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property <http://www.turin-ip.com/>, the University of Torino <http://www.unito.it/>,WIPO Academy <http://www.wipo.int/academy/en/>and theInternational Training Centre of the ILO <http://www.itcilo.org/en> organize an international conference on a specific issue of Intellectual Property, which attracts eminent specialists (professors, practitioners, members of international institutions) to debate and discuss the issues with the students and the public. This year the topic chosen is "*Intellectual Property and the Public Domain*". The program of the seminar is availablehere <http://nexa.polito.it/nexacenterfiles/WIPO-Turin-LLM-Annual-Conference-2012…>. The LL.M. in Intellectual Property is designed for participants to acquire the skills needed to play a leading role in intellectual property rights (IPR) practice and teaching through exposure to an international and comparative approach. The curriculum aims to provide an in-depth examination of the classical topics of IP law, as well as specialized analysis of the latest developments in the fields of patents, industrial design, integrated circuits, trademarks, domain names, copyright and related rights, biotechnological patents and plant varieties as well as the internet, software, databases and e-commerce.

Oct. 3, 2012

Invito: Torino 18 ottobre 2012, La reazione della comunità Internet alle proposte di revisione del trattato internazionale delle telecomunicazioni (ITR/ITU).

by Laura Abba

Oct. 2, 2012

INVITO: Giornata di studio sul diritto d'autore

by Roberto Caso

Cari, vi inoltro l'invito della CRUI a questo convegno che potrebbe essere di vostro interesse. La partecipazione è libera, ma è soggetta a registrazione. A presto, roberto caso ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roberto Caso Prof. Associato di Diritto Privato Comparato Facolta' di Giurisprudenza Dipartimento Scienze Giuridiche Via Rosmini 27 - 38100 - Trento Tel.: +39 0461 28 3881 Web: http://www.jus.unitn.it/user/home.asp?cod=roberto.caso http://www.lawtech.jus.unitn.it/index.php/people/roberto-caso Inizio messaggio inoltrato: > > > Abbiamo il piacere di informarLa che il 17 e 18 ottobre p.v. si > terrà a Roma, presso la sede della CRUI (Piazza Rondanini 48), una > giornata di studio sul tema: > “Università, trasferimento della conoscenza e diritto d’autore > dell’era digitale” > > Presentazione > Le tecnologie digitali mutano radicalmente le modalità di creazione, > circolazione e fruizione della conoscenza. Nel mondo scientifico e > culturale così come in quello commerciale, la rivoluzione > informatica rimette in discussione i ruoli, gli equilibri e le > categorie concettuali alla base delle normative sui diritti > d’autore, alle quali si ascrive storicamente il compito di > incentivare e remunerare la creatività umana. Complessità > tecnologica e istituzionale, nuovi modelli di business, logiche di > diffusione e condivisione della conoscenza scientifica sconosciute > alla tradizione rendono urgente un ragionamento a compasso allargato > su un tema innervato di risvolti problematici. > Mentre il dibattito sui brevetti universitari e sul trasferimento > tecnologico è ampio e maturo, latita una visione d’insieme e > prospettica del diritto d’autore come strumento di governo del > trasferimento della conoscenza scientifica. Eppure all’armamentario > giuridico del diritto d’autore occorre attingere per comprendere le > regole che disciplinano ogni mezzo di trasferimento del sapere > accademico e tecnologico: dalla lezione alla pubblicazione didattica > e scientifica, al software. La giornata di studio si propone come > primo momento di confronto tra rappresentanti del mondo della > ricerca scientifica e culturale, dell’editoria e delle biblioteche > per tracciare le coordinate di questa nuova visione della proprietà > intellettuale. > > L’incontro si svolgerà in due sessioni: la prima nel pomeriggio del > 17, la seconda nella mattinata del 18. > Il programma dell’incontro è disponibile all’indirizzo http://www.crui.it/HomePage.aspx?ref=2113 > > La partecipazione alla giornata è libera, ma soggetta a > registrazione, che si effettua online all’indirizzo http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/registrazione > In considerazione del limitato numero di posti disponibili, la CRUI > chiuderà le registrazioni al raggiungimento della capienza massima. > > Cordiali saluti. > Segreteria CRUI >

Oct. 2, 2012

è on line il portale open data del comune di Milano

by Mauro Alovisio

segnalo che è on line il portale open data del comune di Milano http://dati.comune.milano.it/ p.s. complimenti per interessantissimo incontro di questa sera alle ore 21 a Torino presso la sala rossa del comune .. speriamo in un cambio di ritmo delle nostre città verso il cammino dell'innovazione e della trasparenza! a presto Mauro Il giorno 02 ottobre 2012 15:33, J.C. DE MARTIN <demartin(a)polito.it> ha scritto: > Segnalo l'incontro che si terrà questa sera alle ore 21 > in Municipio (Sala delle Colonne). > Maggiori informazioni a seguire (e in allegato). > > juan carlos > > AGENDA DIGITALE > > QUALI OPPORTUNITA’ PER TORINO? > > NE PARLIAMO CON > > FOSCA NOMIS > > Consigliera Comunale della Città di Torino > > TOM DEALESSANDRI > > Vice Sindaco della Città di Torino > > STEFANO GALLO > > Assessore ai Sistemi Informativi e allo Sport della Città di Torino > > JUAN CARLOS DE MARTIN > > Co-fondatore e co-direttore di Nexa Center for Internet & Society. Docente > presso la Facoltà di Ingegneria dell’Informazione del Politecnico di > Torino > > VALERIO ZINGARELLI > > Direttore Tecnologie Expo 2015 > > DAVIDE GOMBA > > Officine Arduino Societing > > Si invita a confermare la partecipazione a fosca(a)foscanomis.it oppure al > 3421100016 > > > _______________________________________________ > nexa mailing list > nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it > https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa > >

Oct. 2, 2012