Before they go they're going to leave bomb craters where there once were bright eyes and optimism. I'm speaking of the mess created by software and business process patents, of course, which are hard to explain to non-techies. The hype was that software patents are good for innovation. The little guys don't have time to file patents. A little guy is worried about making payroll at the end of the month, not the three-plus years it takes from filing to approval of a patent.
Patents are tools for the big guys.
Check out who's filing the patents, and listen to them when they tell you how they're going to use them. Used the wrong way, which they will be, they don't foster innovation, they kill it. Son of a gun, better change your act. In my experience, little guys generally have more integrity than the big boys. There's a reason an entrepreneur takes such huge financial and personal risks.