One of the problems with the first to file idea is that it assumes that inventors are in a race to file patent applications. What about people who invent something and then deliberately refuse to file a patent application? Their invention can then be patented by anybody willing to file a patent application.
Rufus Polson said: "That would be a "well written" patent. Doesn't make it good."
To a lawyer a good patent is one that cannot be successfully disputed in court. From a lawyer's viewpoint how well a patent is written is everything, nothing else matters.
I think that to everybody else the rest of Rufus Polson's comment is a much more meaningful explanation of a good patent. I also agree that a software patent rarely (actually never to my thinking) meets his definition of a good patent.
One of the problems with the first to file idea is that it assumes that inventors are in a race to file patent applications. What about people who invent something and then deliberately refuse to file a patent application? Their invention can then be patented by anybody willing to file a patent application.
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Steve Stites