On Patents

Interesting piece and a nice thought !
His actual idea is debateable ofcourse, but the underlying principles based on which he makes them are pretty convincing (atleast to me YMMV :p)
Though I am pretty much against the current rat-race to file patents on anything and everything (particularly two giants in s/w and n/w) , I do see the merit in patents in principle.
Patents have become a touchy subject with adverse and usually very polarised views.
Most of the proponents of either side have already lost sight of reality - arguments of incremental development are as much valid to other fields as to s/w so they dont hold much water (to some extent , they are slightly more relevent to s/w : but then we are talking about degree of relevence).
Blanket ban on patents can be as bad (maybe more) as granting frivilous patents.

PS :
Not interested in getting into a flame war.
This is my personal opinion, so personally I dont really care much of whether you disagree.
IF you have illuminating points which will lead to a healthy debate - welcome , else sorry but keep away.