I haven’t spoken much about the whole recent MSIE patent bruhahas (Eolas, Intertrust). A lot of people bring up the Bill Gates quote on patents in different contexts, but often miss the logical conclusion. It’s not that large companies will leverage their patent portfolios to keep away competition (although of course that will happen), it’s that ‘innovation’ will be hampered entirely by companies who’s sole business is based on lawsuits and IP rights. There’s no leverage there, no cross-licensing a mega-corp can come up with.
The way that patents are currently granted will lead inevitably to failure.