Jean-Paul Smets
CEO of Nexedi

Nexedi is quite innovative and has in fact used the patent system to capitalise on some of its innovative ideas. However the patent system is only one of many ways of capitalising on innovative ideas, and on the whole it is a source of costs and risks more than of revenues for us. We use patents mainly to solve problems that are unrelated to innovation. For example, we stockpile them as weapons for retaliation against possible future patent attacks from competitors like SAP or Microsoft.

Also, patents give us great fiscal flexibility. They allow us to create fictitious accounts on the books, so as to minimise taxation. We are also considering setting up a branch in a country such as Ireland which charges zero taxes on patent revenues. All the big companies in our sector are doing that, and we as an SME must make sure we get the same chances. For that, we do not need a directive, the current legal environment is optimal already. It allows us to go on obtaining fictitious patents and saving taxes without hurting each other.