MERIT Report on Free Software

Europe produces such a prodigious stream of paperwork that it’s virtually impossible to keep track of it alone. Lucky then that people at the FFII monitor everything related to software patents in particular and FLOSS in general. A recent report contracted by the Commission was signalled today and makes for interesting reading. I was immediately struck by the involvement of MERIT a research group at the University of Maastricht, who also conducted some studies during my short stint in EC. At that time Anthony Arundel was analysing data collected from SMEs about capturing the gains from innovation; his conclusion was that in most industries patents had minimal importance in comparison with factors such as lead time. You can download the book they published online: Innovation policy in a knowledge-based economy.

 MERIT also benefits from the presnce of on of the most important researchers in the field of FLOSS, Rishab Ayer Gosh, who has performed extensive empirical study into the reality of FLOSS production.

The report was published by the Commission in November and is available here.