In other words, there's no problem with software (or other) patents in theory, but currently the pragmatics are out of whack. Software patents are no different

In other words, there's no problem with software (or other) patents in theory, but currently the pragmatics are out of whack. Software patents are no different than other forms of patents except that many of the coefficients involved are very different from other industries, which significantly changes the calculus. Complete elimination of software patents would be preferable to what we have now, but IMO wouldn't necessarily be the optimal solution.