The React license makes it hard on exactly one group: companies who are interested in filing or buying patents so they can wield those patents proactively—i.e.,

The React license makes it hard on exactly one group: companies who are interested in filing or buying patents so they can wield those patents proactively—i.e., go after someone for infringement. For anyone else, the terms are effectively a NOP; there's no ill effect. Given that the popular opinion in the circles that matter seems to be anti-patent, the really surprising thing is to see this blip where popular opinion inverts itself and throws in on the pro-patent side. More than anything else, the negative reaction to React licensing seems to have more to do with anti-Facebook sentiment being stronger than folks' feelings towards patents, rather than any real reversal towards seeing patents positively.