[cookingrobot]

That sounds good in theory - but do you see this actually happening in practice? I've filed dozens of patents, but haven't ever looked into a competitor's software patent to see how they do things. Many companies instruct their engineers not to ever read patents because it can work against you in a lawsuit.

[jordigh]

Exactly, the patent system is broken. What the hell are we doing? Why are we writing public specifications that anybody who reads them is liable to get sued even harder than if they hadn't read them? This is against the whole principle of what patents are supposed to do.

[cdash]

This is not an argument for software patents but it is not necessary to actually read the patents yourself for you to benefit from the knowledge they provide. You could read about an patented algorithm in a wikipedia article, a blog, or in an academic paper.