Jobs replied, saying that “[a] patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other open source codecs now.” The news spread like wildfire. This episode provides a good example of how software patents harm innovation and why they are ultimately incompatible with Free Software. Any program - Free Software or not - is threatened by patents. They hinder rather than encourage the development of new technologies. They add legal risk and therefore cost to software development. At the same time, they inhibit compatibility and interoperability.