If you're a startup, and you're planning to grow bigger in any areas of software/hardware/services that google covers (which, to be fair, these days is a very l

If you're a startup, and you're planning to grow bigger in any areas of software/hardware/services that google covers (which, to be fair, these days is a very large range of areas), its definitely something to be thinking about. Google is becoming an entrenched company, they will eventually (or sooner) go from an innovative market position to a defensive one, and thats when patents start to look really juicy to the bean counters. Also, if you're a developer working for a large google competitor, you may also have reason to fear at least for your job (which is quite personal).