It's important to note that the patent problem is not contained to the mobile world. Back in 2005 a group of companies including IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips and Sony created the Open Invention Network to prevent patent aggression against the Linux ecosystem, for example, and just recently the likes of Cisco and Twitter have joined in.

Patents are causing harm throughout the software industry, in other words. What's especially crazy about it all is that we simply don't need software patents. We have copyright, and that provides innovators with more than enough protection at a fraction of the expense.

It's time to call off this insane patent arms race, or we will all pay a steep price.