Good point. One of the major issues with patent law is that it is stuck into the U.S. legal system and ultimately governed at the highest level by the Supreme

Good point. One of the major issues with patent law is that it is stuck into the U.S. legal system and ultimately governed at the highest level by the Supreme Court who are technologically incapable. They do not have a scientific background, they are not even other patent attorneys, they are often people who have no idea what is going on and ruling on these issues. It is the same with the legislature, where they are making laws related to technology without understanding the implications (e.g. net neutrality). What we really need is some system whereby those who are technically capable of making good legal decisions about the subject matter in question are the ones doing so instead of those who cannot (or choose not) to grasp it. Until we reach some reasonable way of doing so, we are going to be stuck with things like patent law in its current incarnation which shouldn't really have any applicability in most cases when it comes to software.