[tellurion]

That's because of the way patent law is worded. I don't remember the exact wording (and i'm to lazy to look it up) but it's close to "a patent shall be granted except..." Basically, they have to grant the patent if they can't come up with a good reason not to. Perhaps changing the law to be worded "a patent shall not be granted except". Then require the applicants to show how their patent fits the requirements.