Anyone who has ever dealt with US patent law knows that the easiest way to leech onto IP is to copy a patent and hope the USPTO reviewer doesn't notice. Engineers are instructed by patent attorneys NOT to search for prior art.

ebay don't create wealth, they facilitate it. that's not a difference in semantics

We get it, Ebay are bad. That doesnt mean that XPRT are good, of course.

In fact, you could argue that exploiting a clearly broken patent system (it is supposed to "promote innovation for the public good", remember) makes them *worse*, since at least Ebay are circulating money and thereby creating wealth.

So there you have it: two parasitic ticks trying to feed off each other. This truly is the best of all possible worlds, isnt it?