The problem that patents are supposed to be solving is incentivising innovatoion by allowing them to profit from their innovation. The pro-patent argument would be that without patents riverbed would have been less likely to innovate in the first place and the world would have been less well off.
I don't think this is a pro/against free market. Free markets rely on some definition of property rights. This is about making those definitions.
I don't think this is a pro/against free market. Free markets rely on some definition of property rights. This is about making those definitions.