Logic Patents in Europe

FFII: Logic Patents in Europe
This type of use of the patent system has always truly bothered me. I didn't like it when Amazon.com patented the "one-click" shopping. Of course, Microsoft et al. have been attempted to patent & derived royalty fee for years for what is the internet equivalent of oxygen & gravity. The issue of "Logic Patents" in Europe has the timber of one of those "over there" problem but it could very well happen here. Attempts are all ready underway to thrwart the open source and free software communities. All you have to do is read and follow SCO attempts to derive royalty payments & licensing fees from large entreprises. They even have the temerity to sue IBM. For an interesting account of this legal battle, all you have to do is go to GrokLaw. What is also interesting is how this "blog" has been the focus of ire and scorn of SCO. It is a very good blog to read if you are interested in the intersection of intellectual property, free software, and business. If people think of the the free market as a panacea for what ails us, all they have to is read a few account of business trying to make money by exploiting the legal system.