The nightmare scenario you describe is already the current situation. There is already a "boy's club," you automatically become a member when you have acquired

The nightmare scenario you describe is already the current situation. There is already a "boy's club," you automatically become a member when you have acquired enough patents. The consortium is simply a way to lower the barrier to entry to be "one of the boys." The problem with legal reform is that it won't happen, not that it isn't the right thing to do. The consortium as an intermediate step would be a good way to slow roll reform. Once a critical mass of companies is part of the consortium, intellectual property value would start decreasing, due to the decreased offensive effectiveness, and legal reform would become more feasible.