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Hrrmmm... good point.

So all that would do is require patent trolls to keep around a small development team to mockup wrappers to whatever IP they buy up to show they wrote it?

I suppose the due-diligence requires to disprove shenanigans wouldn't scale and could easily be gamed by reams and reams of "source code" that actually did nothing described in the patent but was sufficiently complex so as to confuse.

This makes me think your approach to expiring them after a short period of time is the right approach to start with.

I've heard an (apocryphal) story about a bubble-gum brand that protected an otherwise unused trade name by manufacturing and selling one stick of gum under that brand each year.

I completely agree that software patents should expire in 2-3 years. Even a 2 year advantage is an eternity in the software market.

Agreed, shorter time spans are the way to go:

I'd propose an even quicker expiration if the patent is sold/transferred, to curtail hoarding.