I think people misunderstand the patent system. It's not perfect, but to expect it to be so is entirely absurd. People do not realize it is a set of laws that is supposed to categorize and provide structure... to the unknown. If people realized this is the starting point from which all patent laws must be developed, it would create the context to understand why everything else happens. It's kind of absurd, even amongst the quite intelligent folks here, that this goes without notice. To say software patents shouldn't exist outright is to say that no one could invent anything in software that is novel and beneficial to society. I'm not sure how people come to that conclusion!
I think people also fundamentally misunderstand that the "patent troll" is kinda like the "jaywalker" a term made up by an industry attacking the very concept. The car companies made up jaywalking once they got cities to switch off streetcars and to free the roads up for individual's motor vehicles. Similarly, patent troll is something used by large corporations owning vast troves of IP that get attacked by a smaller company that owns less IP. Is every patent litigation great? No! But our legal system already prefers to let a guilty man free rather than put an innocent man in jail... yet there is some absurd belief that the patent system should be more perfect than this. And lets be fair, it's a lot easier to say "killing people is wrong and deserves XYZ punishment" than it is to determine every unknown thing in the world. Patent trolls aren't really trolls, they are the inventors. Most of the time, if you invent a patent, you still can't find the funds to take on a big corporation infringing your patent. At least if "trolls" exist, the founder can sell his patent right to an entity that specializes in enforcing it. This is the market working.
I think people also fundamentally misunderstand that the "patent troll" is kinda like the "jaywalker" a term made up by an industry attacking the very concept. The car companies made up jaywalking once they got cities to switch off streetcars and to free the roads up for individual's motor vehicles. Similarly, patent troll is something used by large corporations owning vast troves of IP that get attacked by a smaller company that owns less IP. Is every patent litigation great? No! But our legal system already prefers to let a guilty man free rather than put an innocent man in jail... yet there is some absurd belief that the patent system should be more perfect than this. And lets be fair, it's a lot easier to say "killing people is wrong and deserves XYZ punishment" than it is to determine every unknown thing in the world. Patent trolls aren't really trolls, they are the inventors. Most of the time, if you invent a patent, you still can't find the funds to take on a big corporation infringing your patent. At least if "trolls" exist, the founder can sell his patent right to an entity that specializes in enforcing it. This is the market working.