Alt cause to negative innovation- trade secrets.
Buccafaso & Weinstein, Duke University, School of Law, Professor 23 [Christopher & Samuel, Georgia Law Review, 1/29/23, “Antisocial Innovation”, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4520979 DOA 7/21/24, MP]
We admit that altering the patent system will have limited impact on many of the antisocial innovations that we discussed above, because many software innovations simply aren’t covered by patents.397 Reducing patent incentives will likely have no effect on the development of pricing algorithms, labor surveillance software, or social media. These innovations are generally covered by trade secret law which has its own pathologies about screening out antisocial rights.398 Nonetheless, patents represent a massive expenditure on innovation that we have argued is much less valuable than many people believe.