Today it's mostly software IP - 2 decades ago it was hardware
It may be arguable whether patents are desirable or over-prescribed in the high tech industry, but there is no doubt that companies use patents as competitive – and anticompetitive – weapons, and therefore they have a huge value. Applying for and receiving lots of patents, then, can be seen as an insurance policy against lawsuits as well as a means to generate them, just as much as they are an indicator of inventiveness.…
