I said:

"Now THAT is so far fetched it displays your ignorance. Swartz owns less than a 10% interest in this company."

to your statement:

"4. If I were ML, I would sure be upset to do all of this work and have to share half with Swartz...uh PTSC I mean."

Now explain to me how an entity (S&L) that owns less than 10% of PTSC is getting ALL of the MMP income coming to PTSC. Just pull that one off, and I'll happily retract my "ignorant" comment. BTW, look up the word 'ignorant" - I was actually giving you the benefit of the doubt, i.e., making the assumption that you simply didn't know what you were talking about as opposed to flat out lying through inuendo.

Now explain to me how in the world TPL could possibly come up with the cash to buy out PTSC's interest (especially considering that almost certainly PTSC has more money in the bank and far fewer liabilities than TPL does). Pull that one off, and I'll again be impressed.

But one must ask why you propose such a scenario. It suggests that somehow this could happen, and that retail shareholders would get screwed (e.g., how much money could TPL come up with for such a venture, and how would that equate to retail shareholder benefit?). Thus I hereby proclaim it, IMO, FUD - possibly influencing prospective investors (THIS I fear).

It would only be a "win/win" if TPL somehow managed to offer a reasonable, accurate and correct amount for our interest in the MMP. Otherwise, obviously, it would be a win/lose proposition (with retail as the losers). What would be your price tag?

Now explain how this scenario would free us of S&L. S&L is merely a shareholder like you and I (albeit with BoD representation, as is appropriate for a major shareholder). How would it force them out? They have the right to hold their shares just like you and I.

Finally, for the record, I have no fear of a buy-out. Primarily because I seriously doubt that TPL is even entertaining the idea. But also because if our BoD accepted an offer from anyone that was not broadly considered reasonable, they'd be in very hot water IMO, because it could easily be construed that the BoD benefitted disproportionately, and knew they would (fraud, conspiracy to defraud). BTW, they also do have a fiduciary responsibility - and the accountability that goes with it. Put another way (now that I've made a secondary point), if anyone would pay us a reasonable amount for rights to the MMP, and the deal were acceptable to TPL, I wouldn't have a problem with a buy out (e.g., offer me $25 for each of my shares, I'll take it with no gripes).

My Price tag: 450+ infringers in waiting, average a measely $10M (low) each = $4.5 Billion. Give PTSC $2B, and they're a quarter of a BILLION dollars ahead from the get go. Sounds reasonable to me!

You've been challenged! LOL

SGE