Is software patent licensing a major export? Software exports certainly are. How much revenue is lost by our industry because of patents? More than is gained by the exporters of patent licenses I would think.
Licensing isn't a major export, but products that are made harder to copy with patented software technology. The algorithms implemented on a DSP in a cell phone baseband are also subject to software patents. Also, think of something like Google's (patented) self driving car algorithms.
We've lost our competitive edge in manufacturing due to cheap overseas labor. The future of our economy is going to be IP and services export.
