A victory for the trolls

Indeed, but I think such an experiment would play a useful part in persuading closed-source entrepreneurs of the dangers of software patents. In the long term, it is the growth of trolls which will do this, but we need them to understand before the trolls actually win. (If patent markets such as http://www.ipxi.com/ become entrenched, it will be impossible to reform the system).

I don't think closed source people quite understand their potential exposure right now. That is what this kind of experiment can change. We need to show them that the software world is effectively living in a 'black economy' - like the third world entrepreneurs who can't register their property.

One of the things about a black economy, is that businesses can't appeal to the law to protect themselves. We are not quite to that point in the software world, but you can imagine analogous problems. For example, businesses are often concerned about the 'disgruntled employee' problem. If a disgruntled employee offers a rival company his employers trade secrets, they will usually report him to the police, because they would get into legal trouble otherwise. But suppose instead a disgruntled employee offers evidence of patent infringement. This kind of thing already happens in the copyright world, with 'shop your employer' lines for software licenses. It's not much of a stretch to imagine it happening over patents.