One thing I recently encountered for the first time was the idea that a software-based product, when sold as an asset to another company, can only be treated as a capital gain if patent rights are being sold. Otherwise the sale is apparently taxed as ordinary income, for which a much higher rate applies.
I'm still not sure if my CPA was entirely correct when he told me about that, but if he is, it artificially inflates the importance of software patents in a big way.
