Two Views of Innovation, Colliding in Washington - New York Times

"It is easy to see the imperfections of the current law and its impact on consumer products. For example, although the Apple iPhone has many superior features, its e-mail function is in most cases clunky when compared with the earlier R.I.M. BlackBerry. Industry executives say that’s because Apple has been forced to tiptoe around the patents held by NTP. Although the patents have been largely invalidated by the United States Patent Office, there are still active lawsuits that NTP has brought."