[Patents] Patent system run for consumers or producers?

[Gregory Aharonian srctran@world.std.com]

There is no proof of Hartmut's assertion that the public and
consumers are suffering because of (bad) software patents.

Certainly, based on the never ending ads for new software products,
it is pretty much impossible to say that innovation is suffering.
Programmers are still innovating all over the place.  Heck the
biggest complaint consumers have about software is that new products
have TOO MANY features in them.  Suffering for sure, but not the
kind of suffering Hartmut is talking about.

Second, patents economically for the most part in the software world
reallocate money, not increase or decrease it (which is of interest
to the public on whose behalf patents are awarded).  If I sue you and
win and get money out of you, the public macroeconomically could
care less because the taxes still get paid, and the money is still
there to be consumed.  In any event, there is no suffering on the
part of the public and the consumer.

So any of you using the word "suffer" should stop doing so.  It is
a silly way to undermine your arguments.

Greg Aharonian