By progress do you mean creation of new technology or making technology available?  A case I followed (involving infringement on a fingerprint recognition patent) shows how even weak patents slow the development process.<p>Summary - Small company receives patent, sues large companies for infringement, two years and more than a million dollars later patent is invalidated, technology moves on.  All the gory details here:<p><a href="http://www.legalmetric.com/cases/patent/utd/utd_206cv00115.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.legalmetric.com/cases/patent/utd/utd_206cv00115.h...</a>