the Post (no, not NY) takes a stab at patent issues...

] Intel's Grove derides such patent holders for showing
] little interest in producing goods with their inventions
] in favor of demanding licensing fees from others. "We
] call them trolls," he said.
]
]
] Acacia's patents lay dormant for 10 years, until the
] original company was bought out by some of its minority
] investors. Management is now making it one of many
] companies specializing in the business of generating
] money from patents, rather than using them to develop
] products directly.
]
]
] Robert A. Berman, general counsel for Acacia, said that
] many inventors and companies don't have the
] sophistication, expertise or money to commercialize their
] inventions.

seems to me like they should try to find someone who has those things, if they don't, and licence the technology to a developer. something feels wrong with a company finding a patent, letting it sit idle until someone else independently comes up with the idea AND makes the effort to commercialize it, and then smack them after the fact. It certainly doesn't seem to benefit the actual inventor, who in many cases is an engineer who's long gone.

i could argue the other side too, but i'll leave that to someone else... it's a complex issue.

the article also contains a quote from one CEO opining that 20 years of monopoly rights on software is "asinine to the point of ludicrosity". can't argue with that.

washingtonpost.com: Patenting Air or Protecting Property?