[goodness]

Everyone here is negative, but I think the general idea is reasonable (though not new). I don't know that the length should be 7 years, but something significantly shorter than ~17 seems like it could help fix a lot of the current problem.

This would definitely change the cost-benefit analysis on filing patents. Companies definitely take into consideration the costs of employee time, legal fees, filing fees, etc. when considering whether to pursue a patent. If the expected benefit is suddenly less than half of what it was, then decisions start to change. If some portion of patents can't even make it through the system in 7 years (or whatever), then that makes the expected benefit of software patents even lower.