There are many things that you can do within the law that many people will find unethical. That is the case of Intellectual Ventures. Complaining about unethical behavior is very much valid.
Moreover, publicizing (i.e. complaining about) the behavior of entities like Intellectual Ventures is pretty much necessary for fixing the patent systems. The prevailing wisdom, at least among people who decide those things, that patents are good because they lead to economic prosperity.
Those people need to be told about cases where the exact opposite of that is happening and that's why we need to complain about IV and Loadsys and others as loudly and as frequently as possible, so that the people who can abolish patents hear those complaints.
So it's ok for an "ethical" company to use patent to force a competing product off the market?
Also who decide what is ethical or not? Why is Apple making ungodly amount of money on the backs of poor consumers is ethical while IV making bucks for their investors is not?
My point is it's better to attack the source of the problem - patent system, than focus on the superficial feel-good stuffs.
As the post you replied to says, you need to point out abuse of the laws in question for politicians to fix the issue. IV is abusing the law. Sure they are within the law but they don't respect the spirit of the law.
And Apple is getting tons of flack for the HTC patent case. They are not escaping freely while Intellectual Ventures is getting pounded on. And as far as poor consumers who buy from Apple, that's their own damn fault for doing so.
It's completely different when then a company like IV prying on small company who build things with patents that wouldn't stand in court. The little guy cannot sue IV to prove that since they don't have the cash. Public shaming in this case is the best way to go and it's the best way to bring it to the attention of the politicians who can fix the issue.
There are many things that you can do within the law that many people will find unethical. That is the case of Intellectual Ventures. Complaining about unethical behavior is very much valid.
Moreover, publicizing (i.e. complaining about) the behavior of entities like Intellectual Ventures is pretty much necessary for fixing the patent systems. The prevailing wisdom, at least among people who decide those things, that patents are good because they lead to economic prosperity.
Those people need to be told about cases where the exact opposite of that is happening and that's why we need to complain about IV and Loadsys and others as loudly and as frequently as possible, so that the people who can abolish patents hear those complaints.