The s-word in queston here is ‘software patents’. Most people don’t care about them, but they should. Many have taken a black or white approach to the issue. I think there’s a middle ground. Currently, the US patent system allows for patenting anything from a scrollbar, to a mechanism for delivering habit-based shopping referrals. On one hand, you have a lot of good, concrete solutions, and the people who invent them should reap the benefits. On the other hand, you have someone who thinks up something that might happen in the future, and then applies for the patent to their whimsical idea. When someone else has the same idea and actually implements it, the patent-holder hits up the one who did all the work for a bunch of money.
My stance is this. You should be able to patent an actual tool for getting something done. A piece of software, a search algorithm, or even a million-dollar homepage. You shouldn’t be able to patent an idea, especially one that is not likely to be unique: a method for viewing off-screen content (scrollbar), a layout for placing data in boxes (a spreadsheet), or a method for distributing ads to consumers. When patents are allowed to be so broad and vague, anyone can make money simply by having an active imagination without any actual skills. I’m done.