With company-being-an-asshole complaints, there's also game theory issues to keep in mind: because obviously stupid and invalid patents get approved all the tim

With company-being-an-asshole complaints, there's also game theory issues to keep in mind: because obviously stupid and invalid patents get approved all the time, not patenting something could mean being issued with patent troll lawsuits from a different company that does. That doesn't necessarily excuse it, but there's definitely more of a motivation than 'because we can' behind what these big companies do, especially considering that most of these patents never get used for anything inherently money-making and so are just cash tossed down the drain in filing fees and time spent.