The problem with the way software patents are being used is that they are stifling innovation. It is not just that lawyers are being given work at the expense of other workers in a 1-to-1 fashion. Every individual lawyer working for a patent troll who is suing a technology company is probably preventing two, three, maybe a dozen new jobs from being created. A patent lawyer looses his job, and a couple of programmers, a sales person, and maybe a corporate lawyer gain employment.