TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lerner,Josh
AU  - Zhu,Feng
TI  - What is the Impact of Software Patent Shifts?: Evidence from Lotus v. Borland
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11168
PY  - 2005
Y2  - March 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11168
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11168.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Josh Lerner
Harvard Business School
Rock Center 214
Boston, MA 02163
Tel: 617/495-6065
Fax: 617/496-7357
E-Mail: jlerner@hbs.edu

Feng Zhu
E-Mail: feng.zhu@bis.org
AB  - Economists have debated the extent to which strengthening patent protection spurs or detracts from technological innovation. In this paper, we examine the reduction of software copyright protection in the Lotus v. Borland decision. If patent and copyright protections are substitutes, then weakening of one form of protection should be associated with an increasing reliance on the other. We find that the firms affected by the diminution of copyright protection disproportionately accelerated their patenting in subsequent years. But little evidence can be found for harmful effects: in fact, the increased reliance on patents is correlated with some positive outcomes for firms.
ER  -