Just watched this film, Patent Absurdity. Well, let me brief you a little bit about it.
Every week, more than 3000 patents are granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Of these, more than 50% are software patents. And this has been going on for a good few years now. The point here is, after the patent is granted, the company/person/owner of the patent has full rights to sue any other person/company if it tries to infringe on the patent. All well and good so far.
Now, here's the problem with the system. Imagine the tech scenario 10 years later when the patents are everywhere and everything. Imagine how much the programmer has to go through to write the software just to make sure that he doesn't infringe any patent in the process. Even if someone has a genuinely good idea, he would be wary of introducing it because of the fear of getting sued because he has infringed on a patent without any intention to do so.
All this does is make money for the patent lawyers and other companies who are only looking to sue other people/company to make a quick buck.
Imagine the impact it will have on the true innovations that are made at the grassroots level by the programmers.
And this is what the movie is trying to convey. Patent system has been a failure and it will do more harm than good in the future.
Just my two cents.
