There is a certain demographic that reads The Economist and it is not the mainstream. It is closer to the mainstream than Hacker News, but it still isn't quite there yet.
It is nice to see this issue filtering its way through popular media, but the problem is that some of the nuances seem to be getting lost along the way.
Maybe it's just me, but I would have liked to see a bit more background on this issue than what was presented in this article. Even just a little discussion regarding the problems specfic to software patents. (I.e. the question of whether software is even patentable.)
I guess the problem with that is the more details get included, the further from the mainstream you get.
Really, I think that it would take something really shocking to get the real mainstream into this. Something like an injunction against some popular piece of hardware (or software). Then you wouldn't need to include all of the details. You could just rely on people having knee-jerk reactions against patents in general.
I would say this is going to boil down to "Patent trolls make the world terrible." At which point something might be done about the patent trolls, but not about the patents themselves. Which, granted, the world would be a much better place without the trolls. But i would still rather see Software patents abolished.
The system is the way it is because somebody benefits. In this case it's the big software companies, who will end up cross-licensing patents the way the chip makers did in the '90s and create a legal cartel. They'll be able to crush newcomers with patent litigation. And the great thing about suing a small company is you don't even have to win - you just have to make defending against your lawsuit very expensive.
It is nice to see this issue filtering its way through popular media, but the problem is that some of the nuances seem to be getting lost along the way.
Maybe it's just me, but I would have liked to see a bit more background on this issue than what was presented in this article. Even just a little discussion regarding the problems specfic to software patents. (I.e. the question of whether software is even patentable.)
I guess the problem with that is the more details get included, the further from the mainstream you get.
Really, I think that it would take something really shocking to get the real mainstream into this. Something like an injunction against some popular piece of hardware (or software). Then you wouldn't need to include all of the details. You could just rely on people having knee-jerk reactions against patents in general.