This is why I don't think the patent system should be so focused on ideas. It should be a lot more focused on how much effort it takes to implement that idea and actually make it work, and the time for which the patent is granted (if granted at all) should be based on that. You shouldn't get 20 years monopoly on a slide-to-unlock type of patent. But it may be reasonable to get 20 years for something that takes years of work and millions of dollars of investment.

The current system seems to believe too much that "the more patents we have = the more innovation we have". This has come right out of the US president's mouth recently, and it was the same type of thinking for the unitary EU patent, and why Putin also wants to do something similar in Russia. The focus is entirely in the wrong direction.