Under the spreading patent tree, I sold you and you sold me. When we're done with the well-deserved two minutes hate of patent trolls, lawyers and the broken

Under the spreading patent tree, I sold you and you sold me. When we're done with the well-deserved two minutes hate of patent trolls, lawyers and the broken legal system, perhaps we can consider the willing and eager participation of thousands of engineers in the corporate patent process. While it does not apply to the patent under discussion, the majority of software patents are produced not by individual inventors in garages but by employees in cubicles, then assigned to their employers. Rationalizing comes easy, especially with the prospect of a fat per-patent bonus: "Everyone else is doing it, it's just self-defence", "If I don't, someone else will, might as well be me", "Most of these are silly and will get overturned in court anyway", "My promotion prospects depend on it"... I was one of them. Forgive me, for I have sinned. I fear few of my ex-colleagues would agree, though. When will the penny drop, I wonder? Will you be shocked - shocked! - when one of your patents is used offensively in a lawsuit? When you hear about Lodsys and Uniloc and realize that it's not just impersonal big companies who can afford it, but individuals who are victims? Oh well. I'm off to buy an indulgence by contributing to X-Plane's defense..