Doni you know much more about these things than I do but, IMO, the patents are not worthless, they are worth less.  Because Edig cannot take the chance to go all the way to prove that they are gold and fail, they need to find someone that will give them the price for silver.  The settlements have been priced in silver values, but silver is better than copper.  Edig is still the loser because of the system, but not necessarily a total loser.