Figures. Patents are the backbone of capitalism. Some say it invented capitalism as we know it.

It's an outdated legalism. 250 years ago, the patent office operated as an incentive to record and register ideas to the public in exchange for exclusive commercial license.

Now that simply isn't an issue

Software and business method patents have always been bullshit.

Patent the machine, not how you use it. Software is just instructions to a machine.

AV1 is right there. One has to wonder why all the device manufacturers rushed to implement HEVC but allowed AV1 to dillydally.

Perhaps patients have their place but software patients make no sense. One big issue is that it is not practical to avoid writing a system that already exists because there are many, many ways to describe the same software system. It's so difficult to search every term that might be used that multiple people could have already patented the same thing and be unaware the other exists.