Patents: Are they good for you?

On the Today programme this morning, there was a spirited debate about patents and whether they are a positive or negative force for innovation.

It's a subject I addressed a couple of months ago.

In the discussion, strong support for the current system came from Roland Hill, whose firm Contravision has managed to license the technology behind its see-through graphics system around the world.

Whereas David Braben, the games entrepreneur behind the classic Elite series, argued that patents were causing more harm than good in his industry.

Earlier in the programme I reported on the problems surrounding patents.