Just because something looks like it could be patent encumbered doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue it. Patents need to be fought over in court. It costs millions of dollars to bring a patent lawsuit. In the event that your little side project or startup becomes a target for a patent lawsuit, frivolous or otherwise, you've likely already won.
Even with a semi-broken patent system, the world simply favors active, high-quality execution over passive "intellectual property" generation. Focus 364 days a year on a building a great product that people love and then spend a day to talk to your attorney about patents, IP, and how to protect the valuable company that you've built by focusing on your customers.
Jeff Schox has a great talk on patents and startups that is very relevant to this discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyv75d4JG7c