Programmers are well aware that many of the software patents cover
laughably obvious ideas. Yet the patent system's defenders often
argue that these ideas are nontrivial, obvious only by hindsight. And
it is surprisingly difficult to defeat them in debate. Why is that?
One reason is that any idea can be made look complex when analyzed to
death. But another reason is that these trivial ideas often look
quite complex as described in the patents themselves. The patent
system's defenders can point to the complex description and say, "How
can anything this complex be obvious?"
