I agree that IP belongs in a category of its own. Real property ownership lasts effectively forever. Intellectual property, in the form of patents, are temporar

I agree that IP belongs in a category of its own. Real property ownership lasts effectively forever. Intellectual property, in the form of patents, are temporary monopolies under the current system. So there are already distinctions. It is indeed difficult to decide what is truly "innovative" or "new". The patent system defines the criteria for issuing a patent as novel, non-obvious, and useful. These are very broad standards, and were much more applicable to physical invention than information technology invention. In my opinion, the patent system needs an update for the 21st Century. Those involved in developing software and information based technologies need to collaborate on a set of rules that set a high bar for issuing a patent, and a set of guidelines that streamline the application process for the U.S. Patent Office. The issues involved are usually highly technical, and rather than have a bunch of software engineer working in the patent office, it would make sense to force the applicant to prove via the application process that the product deserves protection. Personally, I think that pure software should be copyrighted, not patented. If there are hardware and software components, that is the only time that a patent should be considered. Ditto with genetics. You should not be able to patent the information for a gene. It may be reasonable to patent the tools used to discover genes, assuming they are not straight derivatives of naturally occurring enzymes.