But that's not even the case. If you look at the way things like Intellectual Ventures (This American Life had a nice show on the subject: http://www.thisameri

But that's not even the case. If you look at the way things like Intellectual Ventures (This American Life had a nice show on the subject: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/w... ), the modus operandi is to sell off, or even lease off a patent to a 3rd party that operates nominally at arms length, and use that shell or shadow organization to go after people. With that as a recourse, it'd be easy for anyone to essentially create an army of privateers out there raiding your competitors (okay maybe a navy would have been a better metaphor).