Pantent system of the past working for the future?

It's my personal belief that the current patent system in our country is flawed and needs to be reworked. Apple for example has a patent of rounded edges for smart phones. Even worse than the companies constantly trying to one up each other with law suits concerned patents that are outrageous, is the fact that evidence has come out of a no paper-trail agreement for not recruiting members of the other companies for which one would be terminated. The CEO's of these companies have emails that were exchanged showing that people were fired for "recruiting" others and those that were let go by these companies and pretty much black-balled from the job market between these companies.

I understand that in this industry it's highly competitive and that people are vessels with information that make them invaluable assets, but these companies are engaging in much shady business practice that I think the industry would be good without. My current feelings on the patent system is that it needs to be changed. And their business practices scrutinized.

Public research should be free...right?

Aaron Swartz, a young computer genius was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment after committing suicide. Swartz stood accused of fraud and hacking charges after taking documents from JSTOR and releases them freely online. Two of the larger entities that were allegedly wronged from Swartz' actions were MIT and JSTOR both of which took a neutral stance and defended him respectively. Elliot Peters, Swartz' attorney disagreed with the charges against his client and I agree very much so. Peters said "obviously was not committing fraud" because "it was public research that should be freely available;" and that Swartz had the right to download from JSTOR, so he could not have gained unauthorized access. (Elliot Peters to the Associated press)

It is my personal believe that Swartz was not in the wrong at all. Public research done should be has free public access. He was an advocate not for copy right infringement but for the freedom of information which is a subject that has outrun the current legal system. I think that the government in this case overstepped their boundaries giving trumped up charges to Swartz that made little sense when his only supposed crime had no personal gain to himself. Swartz goal was to give knowledge to the public in an attempt to help people. I think its a noble cause and while his death was tragic what he has done already to stop policies like SOPA and to fight for public knowledge should be carried forth and the fight should continue.

If you wanna read up on the article and start finding more information this is a good place to start. http://news.yahoo.com/swartz-death-fuels-debate-over-computer-crime-012813164--finance.html