> Sigh, par for the course for any patent-related reporting on Ars.

Honestly, I think there's a quality drop all around and not just in patent-related articles. Reading the comments on any legal-related articles is as much fun though as people watching in the homeopathy section of Whole Foods.

On 1, I didn't look at the cited references, but it'd be interesting to see if any of the Bluetooth-related patents were included.

On 2, I guess the only objection I have to NPEs are the type operating through shell corporations wherein their risk-exposure is so low that they can fill the courts up with frivolous crap. It'd be interesting to see if there was a way to curb that behavior (like putting up a bond or something). Are you aware of any proposals?