First things first, Brett Favre should not have thrown that pass last night.  Vikings would have won.<p>Second, I'm taking this from the perspective that we have a college professor (most likely) being asked by a student to cite examples of cases where software patents have stifled innovation.<p>So, does this professor just want his student to start making up random ideas that infringe on patents and argue that those random ideas don't exist because of patents?<p>Seems unlikely.<p>I'm arguing the question itself because I am trying to help this poor student who may be faced with more of a paradox than a fair assignment.