On this month (October)Wired, Edward Clark from Encino, California sent a letter about how Nathan Myhrvold is "squashing new ideas and innovation", I looked deep into this and Mr. Clark doesn't seem to be alone on this subject.
I found a very interesting NPR article on the subject.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack