Loving monopolies

I have to agree with Markos on this:

Patent Law is seriously screwed up. IBM is suing Amazon over web patents used in Amazon's ecommerce system. They're claiming stuff like this can be patented:

Other services IBM maintains are covered by its patents deal with presenting applications in an interactive service and adjusting Web links with weighted user goals and activities, which IBM said would apply to Amazon's popular feature that recommends products to users.

At root is the ability to patent not just technology, but "business processes", or the way to do business.

Lest anyone feel sorry for Amazon, they also patented -- get this -- the ability for customers to make purchases making just one click. If you are a rival site, you have to force buyers to click twice or face an Amazon lawsuit (as B&N found out a few years ago).

Patent Law is just as much a danger to a free internet as net neutrality. It's only a matter of time before someone whips up a patent for "threaded comment boards" and demands sites like this one take its message boards down or pay licensing fees.

It used to be that non-obviousness was an essential element in being granted a patent. These days, people are patenting things like "salt tastes good on french freedom fries" and then claiming the right to charge anyone adding salt to their fries a royalty. It's absolutely absurd, but the Thuglicans love monopolies, and a patent creates a monopoly.