I'm not so sure it's so clear cut. Some inventions genuinely take years to get ready (cough cough anything semiconductor) and even small things require signific

I'm not so sure it's so clear cut. Some inventions genuinely take years to get ready (cough cough anything semiconductor) and even small things require significantly longer time periods when the filer doesn't have a whole lot of money, eg is a startup or a lone wolf. That being said, the system is clearly broken. Two suggestions i have is to shorten software patents to 10 years and adjust the length of a patent based on the financial capability of the filer (eg pegged to inflation). The other thing is that filing for a patent should not be so expensive because of the lawyer, it's just ludicrous. If the lawyer can be removed via a combination of software and policy changes (either pubic efforts, private efforts or both), then people will be able to pay significantly more for examination. For small inventors, a "slow lane" that is significantly cheaper can be allocated. Another idea is anonymous (for the filer) crowd sourced prior art search with incentives.