Analyzing the results of one of the most comprehensive surveys of Free and Open Source software developers, Karim Lakhani and Bob Wolf find a surprising picture of programmer motivation.

Some scholars have proposed that patent pools may help reduce problems caused by "thickets" of patents--large numbers of patents covering a single technology. Jay Pil Choi raises a new problem with patent pools: they may distort firms' incentives to challenge low quality patents.

Using a unique dataset and a sophisticated model, Ashish Arora, Marco Ceccagnoli, and Wesley Cohen analyze the differential effect of patent protection on firm R&D spending.

John Allison, Mark Lemley, Kimberly Moore and Derek Trunkey compare a large number of litigated patents to non-litigated patents to obtain clues as to what makes a patent valuable to the patent holder.

For all the effort that academic researchers pour into policy-related issues, it is nice to see an occasion where policymakers act on academic advice. As the European Parliament deliberated a new directive regarding patents on “computer implemented inventions,” fourteen leading European researchers published a letter and critique of the original draft document. Paul David, one of the signers, wondered “whether we are just talking to ourselves.” Apparently not. Press coverage regularly reported on the “statement by economists,” legislators amended the directive along lines in keeping with the advice, and this version passed. The matter is not settled yet (the European Commission is not bound to follow the Parliament), but, still, it is nice to know that relevance is a possibility.

-- James Bessen, Editor