Patents have gotten out of control - the entire system needs to be reworked. What's to stop me from patenting the implementation of something, anything, that hasn't yet been patented - and then just wait for someone to come along and become successful with it so I can sue them? The system seems to cater to patent trolls.
I'm not even sure if all of them expect to win - they just want a settlement. Why else would this company, as an example, wait a couple of years after WP launches and gains some marketshare??