The ambiguity is that the law (or at least the system) is unjust. The patent system is supposed to promote innovation by granting a limited monopoly to truly r

The ambiguity is that the law (or at least the system) is unjust. The patent system is supposed to promote innovation by granting a limited monopoly to truly revolutionary ideas, in order to encourage people to spread knowledge of these revolutionary ideas. In practice, almost all software patents are trivial to reproduce by a skilled practitioner of the art, so no knowledge is spread. Enforcing these patents kills competition without any corresponding benefit to society. (The people who have the licenses and rights don't generally care about credit, only money.)