Yes, it appears that employees can refuse to take part in this abuse. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/patent-wars-among-tech-giants-can-stifle-com

Yes, it appears that employees can refuse to take part in this abuse. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/patent-wars-among-tech-giants-can-stifle-competition.html?pagewanted=3 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/technology/patent-wars-amo... ---SNIP--- The first engineer discussed a piece of software that studied users’ preferences as they browsed the Web. “That’s a patent,” a lawyer said, scribbling notes. Another engineer described a slight modification to a popular application. “That’s a patent,” the lawyer said. Another engineer mentioned that his team had streamlined some software. “That’s another one,” the lawyer said. "Even if we knew it wouldn’t get approved, we would file the application anyway,” the former Apple lawyer said in an interview. “If nothing else, it prevents another company from trying to patent the idea.” The disclosure session had yielded more than a dozen potential patents when an engineer, an Apple veteran, spoke up. “I would like to decline to participate,” he said, according to the lawyer who was at the meeting. The engineer explained that he didn’t believe companies should be allowed to own basic software concepts.