“…what you are saying regarding PR, you are suggesting that "grass roots" blogs will bring us new investors while keeping Patriot a secret from the general public.”

Not really. Let me try and explain.

Web 2.0, technology advancements and other market transitions are directly challenging the way companies do business. Don’t get me wrong, the need for companies to innovate is nothing new. But there is huge disruption in industry due to the alarming speed of these changes (b/c of Web 2.0, etc).

These changes have very large corporations, as well as start-ups, rethinking their business strategies. Companies are considering how to incorporate web-enabled interactions, increased community collaboration/communication, increased customer relevancy, idea incubation and an open platform wherever possible. And of course, “do no evil.” Businesses are focusing in these areas as a matter of survival.

Let me state that I do not know what is motivating Patriot’s agreement with Agoracom. And Patriot’s reasoning may be for the same reason that some people speculate that Brian was asked to become our Shareholders’ Representative (some sort of short-term effort to appease and or silence the Shareholder s).

On Agoracom, posters are providing links to news stories that illustrate how this is playing out daily. Sometimes we are just not conscious of these changes/shifts. Here is one more example…. Web 2.0 is changing how the US Patent Office is evaluating patent applications. USPO is not known for being innovative in its practices. According to the Washing Post, “The Patent and Trademark Office is starting a pilot project that will not only post patent applications on the Web and invite comments but also use a community rating system designed to push the most respected comments to the top of the file, for serious consideration by the agency's examiners. A first for the federal government, the system resembles the one used by Wikipedia, the popular user-created online encyclopedia.”

I personally would like to think that Patriot’s decision to align with Agoracom is part of a broader realization. One of Patriot’s realities is that it is a publicly traded company. This is something that it can not escape. Most of Patriot’s competitors in the intellectual property space are private companies. They typically operate using many (MANY) shell companies without any (or very little) transparency: Not Open. It’s a bunch of secret squirrel stuff with a higher potential for evil. There will be companies that are willing to collaborate in this type of closed in environment. However, in my opinion there will be a lot of companies that prefer a bit more transparency around who they are doing business with. And Patriot’s operating model will be attractive to many of these entities. Our Shareholders and openness become Patriot’s strength.

All IMHO, and I hope this helps…