The filing of software algorithm patents has been getting ridiculous as of late. I'm just some lawyer to try to patent: x++;
Left out the word "waiting".
I'm getting sick of the whole patent system and Patent Lawyers especially.
I know of one company that beleives that they have a patent on the geometric shape, the CYLINDER. I can't even mention the company's name here, because they have a team of lawyers that search the internet and will threaten to sue you for even mentioning the company's name or the name of the company's founder in a derogotory way.
But here is a hint: It starts with an M and they manufacture portable lighting devices.
Bingo. If I set myself to doing nothing but documenting all the assorted ideas I could come up with, I would almost certainly come up with several ideas which some other person would independently produce and develop for a great deal of money. If I could demand payment for such ideas because I happened to think of first, I'd be rich.
But why should I profit just because I happened to think of something before someone else did, if I didn't do anything wiht my idea. It's not as though my thinking of it added any value to the world.
Big ideas are a dime a dozen. The thing we need to reward is good implementation.
Didn't the Supreme Court already rule that software is a matter of Copyright laws and not Patent laws.