[astazangasta]

Patents are awful because even when they are valid, they are terrible at providing social benefits and are much more effective at securing wealth for the upper classes. This is why they have been around so long, and why those upper classes are fighting so hard to strengthen their reach (TPP, etc). Patents are not the most effective way to encourage technology development, and they should certainly not be allowed to devolve into corporate property that is used to flog money from the rest of us.