Some people think hiring hitmen to whack their enemies is part of the game of business too. This attitude bothers me. Hitmen bother me too. But there's a big

Some people think hiring hitmen to whack their enemies is part of the game of business too. This attitude bothers me. Hitmen bother me too. But there's a big difference between hitmen and saying, "I have a strategic play that I'm not going to tip my hand with." Do you equate hitmen to Apple not showing off their new iPhone until weeks before shipping? That's a form of FUD. I've heard people say that they don't want to get a new phone until they see it. Apple knows what the iPhone looks like, why don't they just show everyone so people can make their buying decisions now? Mozilla embarked in FUD when they said that IE wasn't modern. It was an attempt to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt in IE users ability to use their browser going forward. A business not disclosing information is not at all equivalent to hitmen. First, it's not illegal. Second, businesses do it all the time -- businesses that most people love. Third, the legal responsibility of due diligence is actually on the shoulders of Google. Admittedly not very tractable given the amount of patents, but its the responsibility of the patent holder to warn you that you maybe infringing. My point -- FUD is a pretty normal part of business. Most people judge FUD less on the actual tactic, but more if they agree with result of the FUD. If Mozilla does FUD against IE -- well it's "just the facts". If MPEG-LA does FUD then it's like murdering people. And don't get me started on the FUD associated with the insurance, drug, medical, food, automobile, education, cosmetics, cleaning, and gardening industries. These industries are all much worse than the SW industry with respect to FUD. And their FUD is much more targeted at the consumer.