Lodsys did not patent this. At best, Intellectual Ventures patented it, and Lodsys "bought" the patents, probably through some more nefarious means, with the so

Lodsys did not patent this. At best, Intellectual Ventures patented it, and Lodsys "bought" the patents, probably through some more nefarious means, with the sole intent of profiting through litigation. No innovation there. Devil's advocate: Whoever first thought of the tech behind these patents (i.e the people who filed them) may have been motivated by the expectation that even if they cannot figure out a way to directly profit from their ingenuity (by licensing to developers, for example) a patent is valuable because it can be sold to companies who can better manage their use and licensing, part of which may require litigation in order to enforce the rights bestowed by the patent. In other words, making patents more fungible makes patenting more attractive to innovators.