On: IBM patent trolling patent application

[anamax]

> Any sensible income tax law will allow you to offset losses against gains.

Yes, but losses, gains, revenue, and expenses are not necessarily well-defined. (Heck - even whom is incurring those things is also variable.)

And then there's the big problem - the US govt likes to encourage (and discourage) things via the tax code. GE takes advantage of that as well.