Rick,

I'm always reluctant to reveal personal business, but here goes:

1) I personally hold 2 patents for artificial intelligence.
2) People with newer patents have nevertheless sued three times in the US, alleging that our product infringes their patent.
3) The protective power of my expired 1995 patent makes it dangerous for newer patent holders to make such claims, but in two cases it was cheaper to pay $10K or $20K to be released than to win in court, because unlike other jurisdictions where the winner usually receives at least a partial legal cost order, that is defined as "exceptional" in the US and rarely happens in IP proceedings. We won the other in front of a judge, with legal costs into the $100Ks if I recall correctly.
4) Even so I don't profess to be the oracle on IP and nor does a search engine make you an authority. What I am sure of, is that there's nothing noble about exposing others to legal risk as an argument tactic.

The other thing I'd say is that nobody has been appointed as conscience for the VFP community and the technical forums work better if personalization or declarations of lawbreaking can be kept out of it. There's a chatter forum if people want to argue morality or politics.