> Patents are just fine as long as they are used defesivly

Not really. Good patents are fine, but in order to use a patent defensively, you'll have to defend against something, most likely the abuse of an actual patent (be it a good one or not).

And it's certainly sweet to see Microsoft tasting its own poison. They have extorted just about every Android set maker (or Linux embedder) with a secret list of patents they paid Barnes & Noble US$ 300 million to keep secret.

BTW, this seems to be the soft spot of their armor - future litigants should press hard for the list to be made public. Microsoft will settle before risking exposing a weak hand.

If patents are only good if used defensively (because someone else threatens you with a patent infringement claim) then this is similar to having no patents at all. The difference is that if you abolish patents, patentable aspects of a product will become trade secrets rather than shared in a patent filing.