[Patents] Be's fear of sw patents

[PILCH Hartmut phm@a2e.de]

> So playing around with patent terms in reality won't have much of
> an effect on anything - most patents already experience short
> lives until they are abandoned to the public domain.

A good example of "how to lie with statistics". 
Cutting the life of the MP3 or GIF or hyperlink related patents to 5 or 3
years would make a difference.
When a patent succeeds in hurting, it is usually renewed.

I already wrote why I am not very interested in the lifetime discussion.

There could be one way to introduce variable lifetime.

We could abolish the examination system and instead have the patent
applicant publish the problem let people submit solutions.  Any such
solution, whether found in prior art or newly devised, would then count as
prior art.  The duration of the patent would depend on how long a solution
submission period is permitted.  For one month of solution submission
period you might get 3 years of patent lifetime.

-phm