Question on OSD #5

[Chris Travers]

Ooops.  Forgot to finish my sentence.

We can all agree that the patent system is broken for the IT industry.
 I don't think you will find any argument from anyone in the industry
that isn't trying to impress shareholders with patent portfolios.
However, that is quite different from encouraging people to read
patent applications of other companies and contribute implementations
of those patents into a software project.  It is sort of like saying
"copyright infringement for pop music is OK because the RIAA isn't
ethical."  In reality these sorts of things make it harder to get real
reform done.  Just think of how much better off we would be if
everyone who wanted to stick it to the RIAA went and supported open
content instead of reinforcing the market dominance of the primary
labels.

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers