Kurt-
Jimmy Wales wrote:
While I'm sympathetic to the cause, I'm not really comfortable with Wikipedia per se taking part in a political act just because I (and presumably a majority of wikipedians) happen to agree with it.
Of course not. Wikipedia should take part because software patents could have direct effects on the project. They threaten free software (like MediaWiki) in general, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone claimed to have a patent on "websites which are editable by visitors" (of course formulated much more eloquently).
The MediaWiki developer team can take a position against software patents (on the software page at SourceForge, for example), but I think Wikipedia/ Wikimedia should try to maintain neutrality on all controversial issues in the interest of credibility.
Regards,
Erik