> A little guy with a legitimate patent may have difficulty convincing large corporations to pay a license fee.

I think the key distinction is that "legitimate patent" would seem to have a different definition for the USPTO than it does for the technology industry.

For example USPTO considers sending a scan to an e-mail a legitimate patent, while I would venture to guess the tech world does not: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/meet-the-nice-guy...

So yes, some of these are so broad and obviously just there to make a buck - like the swipe option.

The idea of a patent was to ensure that the creator who had spent considerable time, energy and money creating the invention was ensured that for some period he could benefit from that. Being the first person to patent something which is simple and often thought up does not in my opinion meet that threshold.