SME Lie

If someone robs you and takes your money, then that's bad enough. It's even worse if he tells you that it's actually good for you. Some of those who want to turn patents against SMEs do exactly that.

There is no question that a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are deeply concerned about software patents. The Brussels-based CEA-PME, an organization of 22 SME associations from 19 countries, is among the most vocal critics of software patents. The FFII, which is the most active group to lobby against software patents in Europe, has received the support of thousands of companies and entrepreneurs. When the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor published a questionnaire on software patents, approximately 1,000 replies from mostly small and medium-sized companies came in within 10 days although they had only expected around 100.

It's hypocrisy that some large corporations demand software patents and then say that SMEs would benefit from those. SMEs can make themselves heard. They don't need, nor have they authorized, large corporations to speak on their behalf. Likewise, the members of the patent system, including patent attorneys, are no legitimate representatives of SMEs in this debate. The self-interest of those who make money on patents is all too obvious.

The only way in which SMEs can benefit from software patents is by becoming patent profiteers. If a company has no products on the market, or only highly specialized ones that basically just correspond to a single software patent, then they are certainly in the position to enforce their patents against large corporations. However, in all other scenarios, SMEs are disadvantaged by the patent system. While large corporations can easily afford several patent applications per day, SMEs need to focus their efforts on product development. SMEs can't afford to take too much internal time away from development only to file for patents.

It would be a suicidal mission for an SME to sue a large corporation over a patent if the SME depends upon revenue streams from its own product sales. Let's assume a company with one product, and it has 300,000 lines of source code. That is a significant amount but it's not exceptionally huge. There are many programs that even consist of millions of lines of source code. Now if that company wanted to sue IBM over a patent, it would firstly have to make sure that it doesn't "infringe" upon any of IBM's patents. Comparing 300,000 lines of program code against 40,000 patents, with each patent being described by text that fills several pages and is written in a very abstract language, is simply impossible. So the small company can't even try. If it does, then IBM will quickly make the small player realize that might makes right in the patent system.

Click here to read about the lie that the EU directive on software patents should sanction the practice of the EPO