PG talks about this: "no one will sue you for patent infringement till you have money, and once you have money, people will sue you whether they have grounds to or not. So I advise fatalism. Don't waste your time worrying about patent infringement. You're probably violating a patent every time you tie your shoelaces. At the start, at least, just worry about making something great and getting lots of users. If you grow to the point where anyone considers you worth attacking, you're doing well."
http://www.paulgraham.com/softwarepatents.html
yeah, um, duh. this is why companies invest in lawyers and lobbyists in addition to investing in value-add activities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capitalism
PG talks about this: "no one will sue you for patent infringement till you have money, and once you have money, people will sue you whether they have grounds to or not. So I advise fatalism. Don't waste your time worrying about patent infringement. You're probably violating a patent every time you tie your shoelaces. At the start, at least, just worry about making something great and getting lots of users. If you grow to the point where anyone considers you worth attacking, you're doing well." http://www.paulgraham.com/softwarepatents.html