It's hard to tell how damaging patents have been to our industry. Have they set us back years? Decades? Or are we all mistaken and patents were responsible for

It's hard to tell how damaging patents have been to our industry. Have they set us back years? Decades? Or are we all mistaken and patents were responsible for growing our industry? Either way, this is a lot of wasted effort solely due to the legal system. It's the opposite of a meritocracy. React might be best choice or it might not be; ideally the market would decide.