Software Patents Reading List
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SFLC report on the law and practice of software patenting in India. Commissioned by FOSS United and published in 2022. This contains a detailed history of Section 3(k) of the Indian Patents Act that deals with software patents. The report is at https://sflc.in/software-patents-in-india-law-and-practice/
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Venky’s old blog posts on software patents are at www.osindia.blogspot.in. This post titled “The Practical Problems with Software Patents” is a good start but there are many other posts around software patents in this blog. The blog post is at https://osindia.blogspot.com/2008/11/practical-problem-with-software-patents.html
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The book, “Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk,” is essential reading for all those interested in the topic of software patents. Boston University professors, James Bessen and Micheal Meurer ask if the patent system is fundamentally broken, or can it be fixed with a few modest reforms? Moving beyond rhetoric, Patent Failure provides the first authoritative and comprehensive look at the economic performance of patents in forty years. James Bessen and Michael Meurer ask whether patents work well as property rights, and, if not, what institutional and legal reforms are necessary to make the patent system more effective. Published in 2009, the book is highly relevant even today. Three chapters of the book are available online and are highly recommended reading. If you do not have much time, read Chapter 9 on Abstract Patents and Software first.
- Introduction to the book is at http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s8634.pdf
- Chapter 3 titled, “If You Can’t Tell the Boundaries, Then It Ain’t Property” is at http://www.researchoninnovation.org/dopatentswork/dopat3.pdf
- Chapter 9 titled, “Abstract Patents and Software” is at http://www.researchoninnovation.org/dopatentswork/dopat9.pdf
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FOSS United’s submission to Controller General of Patents on Patent Manual (October 2023) is at FOSS United's submission to Controller General of Patents on Patent Manual (October 2023). This submission articulates the issue of developer freedoms.
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FOSS United’s submission on the draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy is at Comments on National Deep Tech Startup Policy (NDTSP) - #5 by Venkatesh_Hariharan. This submission explains why FOSS is critical to india, explains the geopolitics of FOSS and unpacks the assumptions made by the policy when it advocates for changing Section 3(k) of the Indian Patents Act that deals with software.