But this kind of thinking is implicit in a lot of thinking about patent policy, especially among patent lawyers.

FORBES: Does Innovation Revolve Around Patent Lawyers?

Few Indians will be able to afford the drugs once they come to market, especially after patent rules are tightened up.

ECONOMIST: Clinical trials in India

You know how much we love patent applications especially Apple's patent applications, since they love to stonewall everyone on their plans.

ENGADGET: Apple patent dug up docks iPod in PowerBook

Privateering is becoming especially prevalent in the acquisition of patent portfolios from other companies.

FORBES: Patent Wars Rage As Tech Industry Waits For Serious Reforms

This should especially hold true in situations where a patent is as glaringly weak as the Sharing Sound patent.

FORBES: Patent Troll Forces Online Music Sellers and Buyers to Pay a Toll

Critical mass seems to be growing for serious patent reform legislation in the U.S. At the CES Innovation Policy Summit, the best-attended session so far featured Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who is co-sponsoring a bill which would severely limit the ability of holding companies to use the patent system to extort settlements, especially in the highly-litigated information technology sector.

FORBES: At CES, Companies Large and Small Bash Broken Patent System

But that doesn't mean companies looking to license software or hardware that would allow for movie remixes couldn't do so elsewhere--especially since there's some question about who, exactly, holds the patent on DVD-filtering software.

FORBES: My Family, My Movie

Today some banks, especially those out in Silicon Valley, may be willing to lend against intangibles like a patent or an idea backed by a leading venture capitalist.

FORBES: Going Into Hock

Getting a patent issued can be the difference between life and death for some businesses, and start-ups especially.

FORBES: Inventors: Take Heed Of The Revised U.S. Patent Law