First things first, Brett Favre should not have thrown that pass last night. Vikings would have won.

Second, I'm taking this from the perspective that we have a college professor (most likely) being asked by a student to cite examples of cases where software patents have stifled innovation.

So, does this professor just want his student to start making up random ideas that infringe on patents and argue that those random ideas don't exist because of patents?

Seems unlikely.

I'm arguing the question itself because I am trying to help this poor student who may be faced with more of a paradox than a fair assignment.