In reality patente hinder small business exponentially more! Big business has the budget to lobby and bribe to register patents, and to take smaller business to court in case of infringement.
Discussion
I agree, I think patents definitely favor large corporations more than small businesses. A lot of corporations simply have defensive patents, not for the sake of actually producing a product of their own, but to prevent other companies from producing a competing product. But I certainly can see a benefit toward small start ups with a unique product idea trying to make it to market against larger companies. Perhaps make patents only last a year or two rather than the decade plus they last now?