As someone who pays attention but does not proactively search out patent litigation information most of the time, I would say it’s rare. The most benefit I see for smaller collectives is:

- Patenting an idea that’s core to their business. Doesn’t really prevent immediate attacks from clones, but it does make it much easier for them to get funding from VCs. - Inventors who license the ideas: they patent, then contact manufacturers.

Note: These are not really software-specific as I’m not aware of any software cases where patents benefit smaller businesses.