> Seriously, does any programmer have the time to decipher byzantine shit like this before writing a new feature?
No. That is the game that is imposed by entrenched players, the wealthy, & lawyers to protect their interests (and maintain their dominance). They found a way to "hack" the system to their benefit over creators.
> There should be a non-profit organization that files arbitrary new patents preemptively on behalf of the public and then release them into the public domain.
You need to have a working prototype to file the patent. This non-profit would need the inventors to cooperate.
[edit] Actually you don't need to have a working prototype. Now my question is isn't that the role that open source and free software / hardware fills?
Unless something has changed recently, my understanding is that you do not need to provide a working prototype under US patent laws. You just need an explanation on paper of some kind that would allow a third party to be able to build whatever is being patented.
Of course, someone has to look at the explanation to determine whether the prototype could be built and be functional to have the patent granted. But who has time to deal with all that noise when you just grant the patent to let someone else deal with it?
No. That is the game that is imposed by entrenched players, the wealthy, & lawyers to protect their interests (and maintain their dominance). They found a way to "hack" the system to their benefit over creators.
> There should be a non-profit organization that files arbitrary new patents preemptively on behalf of the public and then release them into the public domain.
You need to have a working prototype to file the patent. This non-profit would need the inventors to cooperate.
[edit] Actually you don't need to have a working prototype. Now my question is isn't that the role that open source and free software / hardware fills?