While many decry reforms like these — especially the one relating to banks — as nothing more than Washington, D.C., political game - playing and Wall Street favors, each in its own
right highlights the larger problem with business method
patents: instead of spurring innovation (as the
patent system is intended to do), they often harm businesses by imposing
additional costs (in the form of licenses or litigation), which in turn harms the consumer, as well as the economy at large.