Cloudflare defeats patent troll Sable at trial

Is that how patents are used today?

Having a time limited monopoly on new drugs seems required considering the costs involved in getting drugs through the regulatory framework.

If someone invents something truly novel I think they deserve the first right to make money off it. The extra bonus of having them file a patent is that when it expires it becomes free public knowledge for everyone. The problem for software is that the duration of the patent is way too long for the pace of innovation in the world of software, to the point that a reasonable duration patent probably wouldn't even be worth filing for after the time it takes to process. In other fields it's not the existence of patents but the games and loopholes e.g. pharma companies coming up with a slight reformulation they can patent again and again. It's not novel at that point and should not be granted a patent.

I have an invention that I think could change the world (a better toilet). I went to a patent attorney.

His advice: File a submarine patent, wait til someone else has the idea but is stupid enough to manufacture, sue him for low enough that he wants to settle.

Why not manufacture? He explained that the patent system is designed to help the incumbents. If you manufacture, the big players will make some minor change, file for a patent as an improvement to the original, and ignore you. If you go to court - who has more lawyers on call?

At some point, you may iterate on your original product. At that point they will sue you with the patent they have obtained for their improvement. It doesn't matter if you infringe, it doesn't matter anything. Guess who has more lawyers? If you are lucky, you can settle for just giving them your IP plus your legal fees.

Many many inventions and improvements have been created by small guys, but they don't go to market. Because if it will disrupt an existing big player they will be sued. For any reason under the sun. Because the legal system favors the side with the funds.

And that is even without considering the companies in China et all that will just copy your idea wholesale, at a fraction of the price, and are untouchable.

The patent system helps the incumbents, but does nothing for the little guy.

A better system would be to use the money currently spent on the patent system to give grants to anyone who comes up with a new idea. [And you can even perhaps have some way for the general public to weigh in.] The smaller the company, the more the grant available. With funds, you could actually try to develop a brand, and the competition across the board would help everyone.

Software patents do not provide the benefits other patents do. Name a piece of software that would likely not have been written if it wasn't able to be patent protected. Now compare that with other industries like pharmaceuticals, textiles, chemical processes, etc. Software is different because it's more straight forward engineering than explorative science. If an implementation is obvious to anyone with the prerequisite knowledge, it's not patentable and there's really not much, if anything, in the software realm that meets that criteria.