BTW, over the years, there's been a fair amount of cases of creative competitive use of patents.
Off the top of my head one of the more amusing one was the Immersion rumble controller case where they sued MS for a few million and MS took a look at the case and settled out of court and then gave Immersion extra money for 10% of the company and a share of an extra licensing fees.
Sony, chose to fight in court, lost, appealed, lost again and even removed rumble from their PS3 controllers, giving MS an extra selling point advantage in the console wars. Eventually, Sony gave up, paid up and MS made a nice little profit ought of Sony's hide.
All perfectly legal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_v._Sony
Patent law is all about negotiation; it is meant to protect and reward inventors, not competitors, not consumers.
It's a game for sharks not whiners.
(shrug)
Smart players negotiate, survive, and prosper; others go shoot craps in the courts and, more, often than not, lose.