Patents increase rents by shielding patentees from the competition that would reduce them to competitive levels. But they do not in and of themselves create rents, which are the result of innovation and the market process. To say that patents can be abused is like saying that slaves can be abused. Well, yes, but isn't slavery itself a violation of a slave's natural rights to life and liberty? If this is true, then patents are also a violation of the natural right of non-patent holders to use their own lawfully obtained and sometimes independently created copies of patented inventions and processes. SCO is not merely an abuser. It is also a monopolist.