It does nearly never protect small inventors and small companies. In the current time of big lawsuits and big money for lawyers, big is what succeeds. Small com

It does nearly never protect small inventors and small companies. In the current time of big lawsuits and big money for lawyers, big is what succeeds. Small companies either: - can not afford to patent everything they do - can not afford to find potential infringing companies - can not afford patent lawsuits Even when they patent, and even when they know, that some other company infringes their patent, they just are not able to take the risk of patent lawsuits. In the case of a big other company it also can be the same as suicide. There is an anecdote, that one big company (everybody knows) send their patent lawyers to a small company, saying, they are infringing their patent X. The small company proved to the lawyers, they did not. But those hard-boiled lawyers just said: Look, we have X-thousand patents. We will find many others, you infringe and sue you, unless you pay us now for this patent! They paid, of course! The patent system has become like highwaymen -- many see the big money without effort -- and it is. Those that are robbed, oftentimes are the real creative persons. And so, the patent system just has become the opposite to what it pretends to be. And of course, patent-attorneys, lawyers and even politicians defend a corrupted system, because they benefit from it. Best example is Bill Gates: In his early time he stated, that patents on software would harm the software industry. Today he is one of the biggest proponent of the system, since his company today is big and he things it would profit from it. But in the end, even for M$, I doubt.