That is because the moral authority of any patent is only as good as the system that issues it. If people question the whole system, then every patent is suspect. We expect to reform the system, thereby validating good patents, but we expect to do so mainly by helping knock out the bad ones. We plan to build a sustainable, profitable business. We might go through an IPO, but we want to be in a position to choose to do so for our own reasons.
Patents benefit consumers in that they encourage new products.
For example, some new drugs might never be made if companies couldn't have a government-sponsored monopoly for some time after introduction. Thus, validating good patents supports the basic goal of the patent system. However, because patents create legal monopolies, they go hand in hand with all of the usual costs of monopolies, such as much higher prices for consumers. It is not unusual for a single patent to cost consumers millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars in royalties that are passed on to them in the form of higher prices on patented goods and services. For example, it has been estimated that six cents of the price of every gallon of unleaded gasoline sold in the U.S. is attributed to the Unocal patent, which also has a bounty posted on the BountyQuest Web site.