Based on this, it seems that patents in any field tend to retard innovation as opposed to promoting it. Perhaps it's not just the software patent system that ne

Based on this, it seems that patents in any field tend to retard innovation as opposed to promoting it. Perhaps it's not just the software patent system that needs to be re-evaluated (and possibly scrapped altogether). Can anyone name any cases where patents have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, actually encouraged progress? I'm foreseeing that the pharma industry will be brought up but I will pre-emptively point people to this article as a retort - http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/8269/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-dam...