So just because you or I can't see anyone's desire to do something, it has to be outlawed? That's just stupid. The goal of all tools, including the patent office, should be to provide a framework for people to do things that the creators of the tools never foresaw. Sometimes that has negative consequences, but dealing with them is a pale penalty for the benefits it reaps.

In fact, what the patent office describes is rather GPL-like. You can look at it all you want, and do anything you want with it. And if you extend it for public consumption, you make your new plans available. Patents merely add the additional caveat that you can't reproduce it for monetary gain.