> I'm be curious if anyone can even name any "pure R&D" software companies that don't ship products, yet created meaningful advancements. There are many exampl

> I'm be curious if anyone can even name any "pure R&D" software companies that don't ship products, yet created meaningful advancements. There are many examples (in addition to ARM) -- just think "research labs". Be they government-sponsored, private or academic, their primary function is R&D, not shipping products. One example of a private lab, off the top of my head, is SRI. Also, though you may claim they don't count as "companies" -- universities. Edit: Additionally, in the realm of hardware and semiconductors, most companies these days are actually fabless [1]. There is a study claiming that patents facilitated the entry of specialized design firms into the market, although incumbent industry executives didn't look on them too favorably [2]. BTW, Rambus is not the best example. They created a lot of controversy when they asserted their standards-essential patents, the same thing Motorola is doing these days. Whether they "really needed patents" depends on which side you're looking from. But for the industry in general (and I am horribly oversimplifying very nuanced conclusions), the answer seems to be yes for startups, and a mixed bag for big ones [2, 3]. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabless_manufacturing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabless_manufacturing 2. http://www.techpolicy.com/Articles/P/Patent-Paradox-Revisited,-The-An-Empirical-Study http://www.techpolicy.com/Articles/P/Patent-Paradox-Revisite.... 3. Various other papers by Rosemary Ziedonis at http://www.techpolicy.com/Academics/Ziedonis.aspx http://www.techpolicy.com/Academics/Ziedonis.aspx