There were many interesting points in the debate, though, as you might imagine, consensus was in short supply. The argument that I made was that we need to encourage innovation; that patents are only one of many possible tools to encourage innovation; and that in the case of software, they’re horribly counterproductive. That’s why we need to get rid of software patents, and bring the patent system under the control of political institutions, so that we can design an evidence-based innovation policy as required by the circumstances. (See here for FSFE's work on software patents.)
The argument against software patents

...A patent is basically a social contract. The inventor gives us a new idea, we as a society give her a limited monopoly to use that idea. As with any contract, we need to check whether we’re actually getting a good deal.

This contract is just a means towards a more important end: promoting innovation and, ultimately, progress.

So we need to ask:

* Do patents on software lead to innovation that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise?
* Is granting a monopoly the only way to obtain this innovation?
* By granting a monopoly, what follow-on innovation are we passing up?

Looking at the classic Bill Gates quote about how "the industry would be at a standstill today" if programmers had started patenting their software earlier, I pointed out that that’s pretty much where the smartphone industry is today. Every day seems to bring a new patent lawsuit in the area. Patents have degraded into just another stick to beat competitors with. The captains of the mobile industry can only keep their ships steaming ahead through the patent tangles by burning piles of cash in the kettles of litigation.

http://opensource.com/law/12/11/how-software-patents-are-delaying-future