Patent regulations stiffle innovation, says analyst

Ovum calls for existing rules to be changed

Patent rules are preventing innovation and must be changed, according to analyst Ovum.

The company says existing systems of registering and defending patents are benefiting large firms and working against smaller organisations.

Ovum research director Gary Barnett says the big vendors see patents as a good thing because they make money from licencing them.

'This is a short-sighted and fallacious point of view. We believe the economic case for software patents has fundamentally not been made,' he said.

The company's research shows patents are being increasingly used in a strategic way, maintaining large portfolios of patents that are defended through long, expensive court actions that small companies cannot afford to contest.

Wide-ranging patents also make it difficult for companies to find new areas to innovate into making it impossible for a significant software product to be launched without infringement, the Ovum report says.

New standards of novelty, inventiveness and disclosure are needed to create a new standard against which the value of individual patents can be judged, Barnett says.
'Software companies that fail to understand the ramifications of the current debate and respond accordingly face a difficult and uncertain future,' he said.

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