US Patent System - Time for a Refresh?

The US Patent system is crazy. I don't claim to really understand it, but I know enough to know that I wish it would be changed. Unlike patent law in many other countries, US patent law essentially allows you to patent an "invention" simply by dreaming it up, not requiring you to build it or even intend to build it. Of course, it has to be pretty thoroughly dreamt-up... including diagrams, explanations, etc. But you don't have to actually sell the thing, or even build it. That seems crazy to me.

On the one hand it's nice for inventors; if you have a great idea and don't have the money, time, or expertise to build it, you can still get a patent.

However, it also creates a corporate culture of litigation. There are companies that do nothing but acquire patents, never intending to do anything with them, only intending to litigate for tons of money should the patent become valuable. Rather than protect the inventor, this system ends up preventing some really fantastic inventions from getting to market, or in the case of BlackBerry, possibly being pulled from the market. So ultimately this just harms the consumer.

I think it would make a lot more sense for the US to require the invention to be publicly available... as in you've actually *built* what you've invented, at least in some prototype variation. This would certainly cut down on frivolous patent lawsuits, and would also force companies to really put their money where their mouth is with regards to what areas of intellectual property they think is important, since they'd have to spend resources to make it happen. If was a really important area for a company, they'd actually ship it! That's a way better proposition for consumers.