Right now patent law, through business method/software patents is stifling innovation and commerce. Small business can't compete anymore when a large company can in effect shut down a small business by claiming it owns "Touch screens" or it owns "email" or it owns "urls" and bury them with legal fees so high they have no hope of winning before having to file for bankruptcy.
Worst yet are copyright laws, with extended terms so long that they only benefit large companies now. There have been studies shown that the ideal copyright term for actually encouraging new works is 25 years and yet now copyright exists for almost 100 years.
And this all occurs without anyone having ever made an effective case that this will promote more art or more science, which is the entire reason we have it.