Anything Under the Sun Made By Man: What if VisiCalc was Patented?

One of the Patentbaristas has talked a little bit about the link between innovation and patents. I have also been thinking about the correlation as well.

Many articles about software patents refer to the fact that Dan Bricklin was not able to patent VisiCalc. If VisiCalc was patented, it would have come off of patent a few years ago. These articles go on to imply that we would not enjoy the MS Excel spreadsheet program we have today.

I think the conclusion is right, but for a completely different reason.

It is exactly because VisiCalc was not patented that innovation was not necessary in the spreadsheet world. Lotus 1-2-3, QuattroPro, and Excel all used the same basic elements that were found in VisiCalc. None of VisiCalc’s competitors were forced to design around VisiCalc, they merely executed the same concepts in slightly new flavors. Once a viable formula was found in VisiCalc, the competitors were more apt to emulate the formula than they were to radically change or improve on it.

I suggest that if VisiCalc were patented, it still would have become the killer application. However, competitors to the market would have been forced to significantly change and improve their product to compete. Many new formats for alternative spreadsheet technologies would have been tried and maybe some would have succeeded. Instead, it was safer to copy the currently winning formula and avoid having to innovate.

In this case, the lack of patents brought innovation to a standstill and we are all running spreadsheet programs that still operate like 25 year old software.

Posted by krajec on August 12, 2005 12:54 AM to Anything Under the Sun Made By Man
Copyright 2005, Russell Krajec. All Rights Reserved.