There's a big difference between innovation in the hardware space and the software space. There's a long history of hardware innovations being ripped off immedi

There's a big difference between innovation in the hardware space and the software space. There's a long history of hardware innovations being ripped off immediately by competitors, or even before you're able to bring your own product to market. The number of cloned technologies springing from China speaks to that. Hardware patents still seem to work and reward innovation - things like FRAND prevent lockout whilst rewarding the innovator. Other parts of the world, well really everywhere that isn't the USA, manage to get along fine without software patents but with hardware patents. In fact a small hardware startup is exactly the kind of company that the patent system is designed to protect.