Intellectual property concerns are paramount in the technology world. Once the Supreme Court opened the door for patenting computer programs and technical processes, the economic incentive to patent technologies of all kinds became large.
Pair that with a potentially less-than-precise Patent Office, which frequently allows patents which are either obvious or have significant overlap with other patents (and frequently both!), then you get a recipe for litigation over the most simple of computer techniques (say, one-click ordering, pop-up windows on mobile, or cloud storage of files).
This American Life put together a fantastic exploration of this topic. Check it out. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack
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