[nhangen]

This is infuriating. I wasn't even given a letter, but I'd be happy to donate money to a central organization, if there is one, ready to fight these assholes.

Patents are bogus, and software patents are even worse. In this case, we're talking about process and not technology. Maybe this is needed to bring light to the issue and perhaps piss Apple off enough that they'll work to invalidate the patent.

[nfriedly]

I'd bet that if Apple doesn't support the developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation will. And the EFF gladly accepts donations: http://www.eff.org/

[mscarborough]

Yes, that's true.

But hopefully between Apple/Google/MS/etc there is enough lawyering to not put additional burden on the EFF for a such a generic feature to app markets. Particularly if these companies want to avoid the 'but what if i get sued' stigma.

[ars]

You need to work on congress, not Lodsys or Apple.

Lodsys is doing what the law lets them. I'm not going to get mad at them for it - I'd get mad at those that let them do it.

[zoul]

They are being assholes, which is fine as far as the law goes, but still it's a legit reason for being mad at them.

[ars]

It's pointless, that's how corporations are. It's about as useful as getting mad at a wild animal for acting like an animal.

The only time corporations "care" is when their customers want them to (because otherwise they would loose business).

[schrototo]

Wild animals don't know what they're doing, the people behind corporations do. Corporations are abstract constructs, but they're run by people. And in this case the people are amoral assholes, extortionists leeching off of the work of others.

[rbanffy]

The people who run corporations have obligations towards their investors. If they disagree, they may quit, but they cannot run a corporation against the interest of its investors. And, if they quit, someone will replace them.

This turns corporations into sociopath-like entities.

[schrototo]

Okay, then the blame lies with the investors... No matter how you try to view it, in the end there's always people involved. Of course reality is complex and there's always a number of interwoven causes for everything instead of a single determining factor. But, and maybe that's just me, I really don't like this hand-waving of any kind of personal responsibility because "corporations exist to make profit" or similar nonsense. As if that makes it somehow OK.

[ars]

Yes they are, I quite agree. And it's still pointless to get mad at them.

[jamesaguilar]

How many times have you been mad about something it was pointless to be mad over? I'd guess a lot of times if you're like most people I know. In how many of those instances would it have been helpful for someone to say to you, "Hey, that thing you're mad over? Not useful to be mad about that." Probably not often, if you're anything like me.

[click170]

I'd prefer to donate to a central organization aimed at abolishing software patents in general, rather than donating to fight one specific - albeit aggravating - instance of software patent abuse.