I don't suppose you mean that includes IPs too? Same thing.

Dude, Spurg, what was the actual patent the case was about? wtf man.

Remember that Nintendo uses patents just as much as anyone else. Look at the inferior d-pad of any non-Nintendo controller if you need clarification of that. Patents have their uses, but if a company is not using a patent then they shouldn't have that patent - that stifles innovation. Patents should also have shorter lives than they currently do.

IPs and patents are different things ... 

The latter is a subset of a former and I was specifically only against patents ...

Your argument could be just as well applied to IPs. BTW patents increase competetion and innovation. Instead of just using the same tech the  other companies use, companies are forced to innovate, and get better ideas than what the other companies have in order to stay relevant.

Moreover, good luck getting folks to invent new machines/processes/etc. without letting them cash in first. It would still happen, but not at the same rate.

Pretty much. Any small player would never dare to innovate, because they'd know some big shot company (Samsung, Apple, Google, whatever) would just rip off their idea instantly, and since they have way more funding and brand power and everything, they would destroy those smaller players.

Patents are a great thing.

What was this company trying to sue Nintendo for anyway? What thing did Nintendo do that made them file a lawsuit?

It could but I only targeted patents ...

They can increase competition and innovation but at the same time they can also decrease competition or innovation because monopolies are very hard to be superseded along with the fact that there are patent trolls to put companies into unnecessary lawsuits ... 

Smaller corporations have a much more difficult time competing with bigger corporations when patents are accounted for and their odds are furthered against them as their revenues keep declining without been able to do any sort of large short term innovations since they also have to deal with a smaller R&D budget ... 

The patent system has done more harm than good and businesses will have to innovate regardless because it will be market forces that will drive them to do that when running a business is a zero-sum game ... 

More often than not the patent system favours big companies over small ones ...