My problem with patents is that they all have the same expiry. Some industries move faster than others. A 5 year software patent would be less stifling to innovation but would give the inventor enough of a head start to get going.
Thing is, you would then get legal wrangling over the category that each specific application should go in. The applicant would obviously want it to go into a category that has a longer validity, and some creative rewording may occur.
