In the software domain, I feel like patents have mostly become a corporate pre-emptive defense mechanism, i.e. "don't sue us for your patents we're infringing on, and in return we won't sue you for our patents you're infringing on".
It can be even more defensive than that. "We're patenting the things we're doing, so that nobody else can patent those things and then sue us for them."
That's, um, not "promoting the progress of science and useful arts". It's at least not trying to exploit others, but it's sheer waste, having to protect yourself from being exploited.
