The social value or software patents and therefore their validity is long disputed. While the popular notion of patents is that they are a method to incentivize innovation, the social contract enacted by patents is more elaborate. Patents are a limited property right that a government offers to inventors in exchange for their agreement to share the details of their inventions with the public. The latter part, which is the value of patents to society at large, is often overlooked by the modern day patents mega industry.
