The merits of patents in general is an issue I just don’t feel qualified to have a definite opinion on. I think that software patents have several characteristics that make them especially bad, so I’d rather focus on highlighting those flaws and leave the broader issue of patent reform to others who know the issue better than me.

The fuel efficiency of steam engines is not thought to have changed at all during the period of Watt’s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five. After the expiration of Watt’s patents in 1800, not only was there an explosion in the production of engines, but steam power finally came into its own as the driving force of the industrial revolution. In the next 30 years steam engines were modified and improved, and such crucial innovations as the steam train, the steamboat and the steam jenny all came into wide usage. The key innovation was the high-pressure steam engine — development of which had been blocked by Watt by strategically using his 1775 patent.

The fuel efficiency of steam engines is not thought to have changed at all during the period of Watt’s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five. After the expiration of Watt’s patents in 1800, not only was there an explosion in the production of engines, but steam power finally came into its own as the driving force of the industrial revolution. In the next 30 years steam engines were modified and improved, and such crucial innovations as the steam train, the steamboat and the steam jenny all came into wide usage. The key innovation was the high-pressure steam engine — development of which had been blocked by Watt by strategically using his 1775 patent.

The one that has recently got my attention is C2 Global (formerly Acceris’s) VOIP patent, as per this very recent lawsuit filing.