No. Software patents are unworkable. The effort spent in trying to make them work is wasted effort and would be better spent in trying to abolish software patents.
Another way of looking at your question is to point out that software patents are a huge expensive drag on the software industry. Not only that but the current software system is unworkable. Mark Nowotarski's solution is to create a huge mountain of work to search for prior art which will add an even larger financial burden on the software industry. This huge expense would reduce the number of software patents issued but the smaller remaining set of software patents would still be an expensive unworkable mess.
It is far cheaper to pay your medical expenses out of pocket than to buy health insurance. When you buy health insurance you are paying for both your medical expenses and the cost of the insurance company.
Also when you are paying out of pocket you can negotiate price as I did when I had an operation on my back. I negotiated the price of anasthesia down $500. Because I had no health insurance I had to pay cash in advance but I also had an itemized bill before I had the operation rather than being surprised in the mail.
" Is there a better practical alternative?"
No. Software patents are unworkable. The effort spent in trying to make them work is wasted effort and would be better spent in trying to abolish software patents.
Another way of looking at your question is to point out that software patents are a huge expensive drag on the software industry. Not only that but the current software system is unworkable. Mark Nowotarski's solution is to create a huge mountain of work to search for prior art which will add an even larger financial burden on the software industry. This huge expense would reduce the number of software patents issued but the smaller remaining set of software patents would still be an expensive unworkable mess.
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Steve Stites