While 20 years may be too long, 5 years isn’t long enough, if the patents are justified in the first place. That’s the bigger problem - the number of patents that are granted that don’t deserve it. But Stallman’s answer of doing away with all patents on software, or Linus Torvald’s quip to “go whack the guy”, are obviously far out in left field.
Perhaps you're right, if the number of patents were significantly reduced than maybe 10 years would be reasonable.
But Stallman’s answer of doing away with all patents on software
Is, your right, outrageous.
Linus Torvald’s quip to “go whack the guy”
Thanks for acknowledging he was joking! His position is don't bother looking too hard because there are so many crap patents out there almost every piece of code out there (of any substance) likely infringes on something. I certainly don't go out and look at patent fillings when I code.