I would suggest taking this a step further, using an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy. Given that corporations use patents defensively to set up mutual patent licensing agreements, what you need is a bargaining chip to get these corporations to open up their patent portfolios. To that end, set up a non-profit that owns a set of key patents. Anyone who wishes to license those key patents must in turn open up their portfolio for use by the programming community. Perhaps some of the big players who are frustrated by the current patent madness would be willing to donate patents to this non-profit to jumpstart the process.
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I would suggest taking this a step further, using an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy. Given that corporations use patents defensively to set up mutual patent licensing agreements, what you need is a bargaining chip to get these corporations to open up their patent portfolios. To that end, set up a non-profit that owns a set of key patents. Anyone who wishes to license those key patents must in turn open up their portfolio for use by the programming community. Perhaps some of the big players who are frustrated by the current patent madness would be willing to donate patents to this non-profit to jumpstart the process.