Battling Editorials: Is the Patent System Broken?

From The Reflector:

the patent system is fundamentally and frighteningly broken. The emphasis has moved from encouraging innovations -- the stated purpose of patents in the U.S. Constitution -- to encouraging greedy profiteers to extort both true innovators and others who could benefit from the technology. No process, observation or thought is safe from these so-called patent trolls.

We have a hard time disagreeing -- a broken window is a broken window, and calling it otherwise doesn't make the window-breaker innocent. Of course, others are still trying to laud the economic benefit of vandalism. A reader of the LA Times wrote this:

The patent system does not need an overhaul. The standard of business ethics needs a major overhaul. It is time that large companies are held accountable for stealing the property of others. Lawyers should not determine who can steal what. The patent office should include a government-funded court of appeals to protect the intellectual rights it grants against encroachers and thieves.

When we talk about physical property, of course theft shouldn't be allowed. And sure, lawyers shouldn't be the ones deciding this issue. But, alas, ideas aren't physical property, and never can be. Bad patents shouldn't be used by unscrupulous individuals and unethical patent holding firms as a means of extorting money from other business, both large and small, or as a way to stifle innovation and scientific research. Period.