I'm with you on the undesirability of sw patents. But nowadays, even hw patents are a problem. There doesn't seem to be any meaningful requirement of a patent

I'm with you on the undesirability of sw patents. But nowadays, even hw patents are a problem. There doesn't seem to be any meaningful requirement of a patentable idea being non-obvious to "one skilled in the arts." What we have is a race to occupy the available implementation space. But I don't see the courts addressing either of these concerns. What they are addressing is the troll's ability to misuse patents against companies that make things (good), but they crank up the financial cost and risk so that only big players can play (bad).