And Apple, Microsoft, and RIM are agents for investors to make money. If you really want to blame someone, you need to follow the money trail back to shareholders, most of whom don't even remotely understand or can interpret the language of the patents.

You've got complex systems on top of complex systems that really only benefit a small number of people who understand them and consistently make money off of them.

Let's say I have both Apple and Google stock (ignore for the moment that it's only HTC being sued, because this obviously has an impact on Google's ability to compete with Apple in this market). Should I take the blame that a company I invest in is taking advantage of a complex system to increase the value of my shares? Probably, but unfortunately I have no idea where to start.

In a system where everyone has patents and are suing each other, I think the obvious beneficiaries are the middlemen making money off the process (lawyers being among them). So ultimately I would agree with the parent that lawyers are at least partially to blame for these shenanigans.