> The patent system is too broken. Anyone who writes software should hate patents. Anything you write will infringe on some patent out there. If all you want is money then writing software isn't the best way to go about getting it.
I write software (open source on GitHub) and don't hate patents. I hate bad patents, the kind you can infringe upon just by writing software, but lots of patents aren't bad patents. E.g. IBM has a number of patents on compiler optimizations. Am I going to stumble upon Steensgard's pointer analysis by accident? No, the only reason I know about it is that IBM let him publish a paper based on the research they paid him to do at Watson.
>Am I going to stumble upon Steensgard's pointer analysis by accident?
Yes! Yes, you could stumble on Steensgard's algorithm. Like convergent evolution in nature, it's easy for requirements to shape implementation, and for multiple implementations to naturally overlap. There are so many software patents out there- it is a minefield.
Additionally, engineers at large companies are discouraged from doing their own patent research, because of the risk of losing a "sorry, we created this organically in good faith" defense in litigation.
Publication of patents does not offset the chilling effect and legal overhead on our industry.
I write software (open source on GitHub) and don't hate patents. I hate bad patents, the kind you can infringe upon just by writing software, but lots of patents aren't bad patents. E.g. IBM has a number of patents on compiler optimizations. Am I going to stumble upon Steensgard's pointer analysis by accident? No, the only reason I know about it is that IBM let him publish a paper based on the research they paid him to do at Watson.