These patents might open the doors for legal battles that small companies might just not have the resources for. They're a perfect tool for trolls and bullies.
You don't need much in the way of resources to invalidate a patent. Proof of prior use, or published prior disclosure. The measure of proof being balance-of-probabilities.
If you have that you're immune, show up with your print out, you get costs.
If you lose you might have to, for example, hand over profits.
The flipside is that small companies can use patents to prevent unlicensed exploitation of their own inventions.
This is my personal view and does not relate to my employment.
That is absolutely not the case, at least in the US. The people who have actually been frivolously sued and managed to invalidate the patents say differently: it takes several years and millions of dollars to invalidate just a few claims in the patent despite ample evidence. Look up the case against Laminar Research for example.
If you have that you're immune, show up with your print out, you get costs.
If you lose you might have to, for example, hand over profits.
The flipside is that small companies can use patents to prevent unlicensed exploitation of their own inventions.
This is my personal view and does not relate to my employment.