[1] This concept has negative connotations and has been described as "a dense web of overlapping intellectual property rights that a company must hack its way through in order to actually commercialize new technology".
[4] It has been suggested by some that this is particularly true in fields such as software or pharmaceuticals, but Sir Robin Jacob has pointed out that "every patentee of a major invention is likely to come up with improvements and alleged improvements to his invention" and that "it is in the nature of the patent system itself that [patent thickets] should happen and it has always happened".
[7] According to a report by Professor Ian Hargreaves, published in May 2011, patent thickets "obstruct entry to some markets and so impede innovation.
[16][17] This patent thicket extended the term of AbbVie's monopoly past the twenty year limit and effectively prevented a generic version of the drug from entering the market keeping prices inflated to upwards of $72,000 a year.
[18][19] The district court ruled that the patents were protected from the allegations by the First Amendment regardless of anti-competitive effect.