An open source software is defined by the availability of its source-code that cannot be privately appropriated. Its production is based on a special cooperative organisation mode, called the ?bazaar??, which functions particularly well in the context of Internet. Its functional viability till...

This article is inspired by the observation of a massive change of opinion on the part of economists regarding the question of the patent as a mechanism allowing an economically acceptable solution to be found to the so-called ?imperfect appropriability? problem. This change is due partly to...