It wasn't until the early 90's that software was widely considered patentable. Even then it wasn't till the late 90's that software patenting really started to

It wasn't until the early 90's that software was widely considered patentable. Even then it wasn't till the late 90's that software patenting really started to take off. And much of that was by companies who saw patenting more as defensive practice to help defend against patent suits (much as were seeing in many of the smart phone lawsuits). But it is difficult to sit on a big pile of patents and not make some effort to monetize those assets. I think we're just beginning to see the true cost of software patents. Of course for the big companies it's just the cost of doing business, a cost that gets passed on to consumers. But for small companies it is an existential threat, and that could greatly reduce innovation in the US. Of course there is the risk that bigger companies with more manpower and marketing muscle will copy good ideas from startups. But I think most entrepreneurs would rather fight that fight by being quicker, smarter and listening to the customer, than to fight patent trolls in court. In the first case their will be a winner, and a looser, but generally the public wins. In lawsuits you may win some, or loose some, but in the long run only the lawyers win.