When you've fallen for the patents are good argument, you start to say silly things:
Just under 20% of all research and development spend by companies in 2001/2 – with a similar figure the following year – was spent on ICT. However, there is no indication of what value is added to the country through this expenditure.
Oh? No indication? What do you mean?
Paterson says there is no doubt that R&D is happening in the sector, but seems to be happening at company level and there is no resultant flow through into patents.
...
Looking at the European Patent Office, Paterson notes in the paper that ICT-related patents are growing more rapidly than overall applications, with the notable exception of ICT patents locally...
Really? No flow into patents in ICT? Low growth of patents in ICT locally? Well, maybe it's because South Africa (thankfully) doesn't (yet) recognise software patents? So, any patents in ICT in the country would have to be for things like hardware?
“We should look at whether SA wants to encourage R&D that leads to income generation through patents.”
I hope not. I hope we have higher standards than to fall into the software patent trap. We have a lot more to lose than to win if we start to recognise software patents - the rest of the world will be able to prevent South African companies from doing obvious things that they already do, leading to a large outflow of money overseas for no real benefit.