Somehow I missed linking to the September 2003 article "Patent Riots of 2003" by John C. Dvorak in PC Magazine. Fortunately, the FFII main press release page has it in its list of annotated links.
The author's conclusion:
Posted by Karl-Friedrich Lenz at April 14, 2004 12:07 PM | TrackBackI have been relentlessly looking at these and other issues and must conclude that the way things are currently rigged, the big companies can easily lord it over the small fry unless the small fry are also loaded. This is neither a level playing field nor a productive environment.
What do I tell people who see this as a problem? I just tell them to patent every idea they can and never produce any sort of product. It looks impossible to develop anything in this environment except patents and lawsuits. Yeah, like this is going to fix the economy. My conclusion: support the FFII.