Less than 24 hours after delivering the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama took to a more casual forum to field questions from the American public in a Google Hangout session. In a wide-ranging discussion that touched upon everything from gun control to Valentine's Day plans, the president candidly discussed the country's evolving patent management practices.

According to CNET, Obama responded to questions from software entrepreneurs by preaching the importance of reducing red tape and frivolous litigation without weakening the protections afforded to legitimate rights holders.

"I do think that our efforts at patent reform only went about halfway to where we need to go," Obama explained. "What we need to do is pull together additional stakeholders and see if we can build some additional consensus on smarter patent laws."

At the same time, the president declined to comment on the thorny issue of digital copyright laws. According to Ars Technica, a question regarding the right to reuse and repurpose electronic media at the owner's discretion was left off the list of discussion topics despite being the eighth most popular inquiry submitted.