• interesting slashdot post about patents

It is clear the system is broken, but of all the comments I've ever read on slashdot (as infrequently as that may be) what is the solution? I mean you can't just throw out the thing all together. Having no patenting system would make the whole market far too volatile. If you could start over and rebuild the whole thing, what would you do?

My first thoughts where along the lines of something like:

• Company 1 comes up with idea and puts a "patent hold" on it. No one else can find out about it.
• Company 2 comes up with the same / similar idea and puts its own "patent hold" on it. Again, no one finds out.
• Company 1 finishes its product and takes it to market. Company 2 is informed.
• Companies 1 and 2 are given patents on the idea. No more companies may put a "hold" on the patent.
• Company 1 and 2 battle it out, creating competition, but with some market stability.

This way, no one company can sit on it. If they want to do something about what they've come up with, they can't just sit on it. They actually have to act on it, and to minimize their competition, they need to develop it as quickly as possible, effectively incentivising progress.

Another post quotes Ben Franklin:

• "As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously."