In my quest to abolish software patents, I've been pondering "short term approaches" since I doubt the Supreme Court is going to wave a magic wand and make my fantasies come true anytime soon.
I've been hearing about something lately that bothers me a lot. More and more companies are paying engineers a bonus to file patents. Not "get patents" - simply generate patent applications. The intended consequence is an obvious one - companies get to file more patents. The unintended consequence is a particularly nasty one - lots of shitty patents get filed and the PTO has to wade through that much more garbage.
By Brad Feld
Full Post: http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2008/05/lets_make_softw.html