I think we need to look at the reasons why patents were formed in the first place in order to determine how to modify patent law going forward. Part of the rea

I think we need to look at the reasons why patents were formed in the first place in order to determine how to modify patent law going forward. Part of the reason patents came about was to prevent permanent monopolies, the idea being that you make your innovation public in exchange for a short term monopoly or what I will call "short term money." This is just one reason but it will let me illustrate an example that makes my point. The problem with the exchange of knowledge for short term money is that the amount of time you are protected doesn't scale to the degree of innovativeness of your idea; the short term money now seems like way too much money for many patents, essentially creating the long term monopolies that patents were meant to prevent. Rather, certain things are patentable for a certain length of time, and that's that, regardless of the degree of innovativeness. To further compound the problem, the degree of innovation of idea x diminishes as we move into the future. Consider idea x, selling images using the internet. Simple, right? This may have been considered innovative from 1980 until 1990 (this is hypothetical, please don't nit pick), because at that time not everyone has a computer, the internet, or a way to pay for things online, and maybe you have ideas for how to solve all that. But if you were to come up with that idea in 1990 it might only be truly innovative for 5 years. And if someone were to try to patent this today, assuming the USPTO worked flawlessly, we would laugh at them. It wouldn't be considered innovative for any amount of time because everyone has a computer, a way to pay for things online, and fast internet. Yet the USPTO may grant this patent today anyway (again, hypothetical), causing companies to endure years of headaches and fork over thousands or millions in attorney fees. What's the solution to that? I don't know, but I do know there's something wrong with the incarnation we have now, because patent law is creating something it is meant to prevent (monopolies). The point is, to modify patent law, we must first go back and look at the founding reasons of why patents were created in order to determine (a) whether we still agree with those reasons, and (b) how to modify law that nurtures those reasons going forward. It's only then that we'll be able to correct things because the situation has gone too awry for minor adjustments. I like the direction the FTC is taking, however, and I see this as a fact finding mission which must come before everything else.