if people followed patents there wouldn't be internet as we know it. No Google since they weren't the first search engine, not eBay, since they weren't the first auction site, not Facebook since they weren't the first social site.

I say go all in. Noone is going to bother you about patents until you are successful, and at that point you'll have enough $$$ to fight back. Or the whole patent system might get reevaluated. I mean if you look chances are some asshole has a patent on a "reply" button that "facilitates the transmission of your reply to database servers"