You may be interested in reading the license page for the royalty-free Opus audio codec:

https://opus-codec.org/license/

Full disclosure, I am a member of the Xiph.Org Foundation.

Importantly, Xiph.org is a 501(c)(3).

I know a few, at least one asserted one of their few patents against IBM to force a licensing deal -- reversing the direction of the money to the startup instead of them paying IBM.

If a startup has some decent patents, they get to have a conversation with companies like IBM that come calling. Otherwise, they have to roll over.

Basically, when the IBMs of the world come around demanding a license, you show IBM they are infringing on your patent.

In general patents are business assets or business tools. They are important for valuation, among other things.

Does a crime become good if the victim is big and the perpetrator is small?

It's roughly the military equivalent of the enemy having their artillery emplacements overrun and then turned against their own troops. Size of the respective fighting forces is irrelevant, it's simply a useful tactic. Of course if the overrun emplacements were part of a large, belligerent force agitating a smaller force without cause, there may seem to be a certain justice in using their weapons against them. It doesn't make the subsequent killing "good", but it may help discourage further aggression against strategically disadvantaged but tactically superior forces.

Sometimes.

The greatest good is our aim here.