"Because ending all patent protections immediately would be impractical, Boldrin and Levine advocate several transitional steps, such as shortening patent terms

"Because ending all patent protections immediately would be impractical, Boldrin and Levine advocate several transitional steps, such as shortening patent terms. "The aim of policy, in general, should be that of slowly but surely decreasing the strength of intellectual property interventions," they write, "but the final goal cannot be anything short of abolition."" This makes the idea impossible - sustaining the political will for 15-20 years (a random guess at how long it'd take) to wind down patents. That's 4-5 presidential elections or two-to-three changes of government here in Australia. Nope.