Enough Is Enough
I really don't think the problem is software patents, it seems to me the real problem is that most software patents seem to be ridiculously trivial.<p>Here's an example: my employer, a rather small company has invested an enormous amount of resources in developing a specific algorithm. It took years of research and development, lots of money and brainpower, it's very far from being trivial (in fact it's so complicated I have to admit I don't understand some parts of it) and it's light years ahead (in terms of usefulness and speed) of any other algorithm with similar applications.<p>Obviously the last thing we want now is simply handing it over to our competitors, after all this work. If the patent system didn't guarantee us monopoly on using the fruits of our own R&D, this algorithm probably would not have been developed for a very long time, if ever, by anyone. It would have been innovation that never happened.<p>My point is that the threshold of what can patentable should by way higher, but I think we need a (software) patent system none the less.