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Be prepared for some heated debates as the years roll on. IP law is starting to stifle the ability for American software companies to create the best products. In many cases new features in software are held back while legal teams spend time investigating if the innovation is similar to something patented.

Some companies have been granted patents on technology that has been around for years and they are using these patents to shake down other companies. Most software companies (that can afford it) collect a large arsenal of patents just so nobody wants to mess with them. Smaller companies live it fear of 1) being sued or 2) having their IP stolen by a large company they cannot afford to fight.

Another problem is many concepts that are common knowledge are being patented. This is especially bad in web technology right now. You pretty much cannot run any sort of website right now without violating a patent someone else holds. It's a bit like the US tax code. There's just no way to be completely legal. They've got you it they want you.

Patents are the single biggest threat to Linux right now. In some cases there are companies that allow their patent to be violated for years without raising public awareness, then as their technology becomes well embedded they open a flood of lawsuits. This is one of the reasons Linux people are happy to have IBM and their Nazgul lawyers on our side.

IP law is starting to stifle the ability for American software companies to create the best products. In many cases new features in software are held back while legal teams spend time investigating if the innovation is similar to something patented.

That's idiotic. It's quite possible that anybody who wastes his or her time doing patent searches is going to miss a potential claimant's patent due to the sheer number of patents on file at the USPTO. So, in fact, doing patent searches is a fool's errand. Likewise, there's a huge potential to be hit with even more substantial damages if, in the course of a patent search, you eliminate a particular patent from comparison -- and that patent is later found to apply to your product. My advice to any programmer would be to NOT do patent searches prior to working on and releasing products. It won't help you.