Don't drink the kool aid (Score 1)

As a small inventor, without a salary and self-funding my patenting, my hope is that my fellow engineers who support the little guy will look critically at the line that the large players are feeding them. The patent system works fine for the small guy who doesn't have money.

NTP and their ilk go after the big guys, who couldn't care less about anyone else. The big guys would be happy to see the patent system defanged, because then money decides, and the small players like me can be swatted aside, whereas now they have to think twice before they copy a good idea.

This is not to say I think things are hunky dory right now - the whole NTP thing could have been prevented if the patent office has enough money to speed review (oh wait, the big boys aren't actually clamoring for more money for the patent office, because that way the machine can break down more spectacularly); an open-publication with open review of filed patents as the IEEE is proposing.

But I am saying that the big boys are using those legitimate issues as a smokescreen for the real goal - make it easier to screw over the small inventors.