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I think I would prefer to pay off lodsys rather than selling my IP to Apple.

Not that I like either option, but I'd rather pay < 1% of my sales rather than let apple own it.

Of course it doesn't stop with just <1% one time. By encouraging the "innovation tax" of the Lodsys revenue model, every half-baked patent troll would be encouraged to try to claim <1% of sales from everybody. If every developer agreed to the blackmail of 5 or 6 trolls, then there is suddenly a huge community of easy prey for potential trolls with weak claims who might not otherwise bother. If the Trolls see a big financial opportunity, then the problem gets worse. If everybody is already covered under Apple's/Google's license, then no additional revenue flows to Lodsys and they (and their ilk) see a low payoff for their troll-like behavior. If an opt-in solution like this can be found, it weakens the entire trolling community which is good for developers and innovation.

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