Talk politics.

I largely agree. Before software patents, blatant ripping-off was prevented by the use of copyright law. The upside there is that copyright protects only exact duplicates and very, very similar derivatives, not the entire idea. The world of software developed at a rapid pace. Just think of it this way - if Xerox had been able to patent things like the GUI or keyboard shortcuts, much of the modern operating system probably wouldn't exist. It's only because smarter, better designers like Gates and Jobs were able to freely rip off Xerox's design that we got the modern home-computing boom.