"End Software Patents, a project working toward the elimination of software patents, was launched today. The ESP project will initially focus on two approaches: 1) assisting corporations that choose to challenge software patents in the courts and at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on the basis that patents for software and designs with no physically innovative step have no legal validity, and 2) public education aimed at passing laws to protect software from patent law. [...] In a separate announcement today, ESP released its first report on the current state of software and business method patents. The report covers the economic impact of software patents, including the $11.4 billion that U.S. businesses waste each year on software patent litigation.

A newly published and quite intriguing Patent application from Microsoft describes technology for hand-activating page turning of Microsoft documents.

Trend Micro might insist that its patent case against Barracuda Networks isn't about free software -- but try telling that to the free and open source software (FOSS) community. Since Barracuda Networks went public about the case last month, it has heard from "a tremendous number of individuals" according to Dean Drako, Barracuda's president and CEO. Even more significantly, announcement of the case has led to a boycott against Trend Micro.

How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk.

I've run into a few Apple UI patents a over the years while developing software. Their software patents, like most other software patents, tend to be completely inane. They are the sort of things that are obvious to pretty much anyone doing UI development who isn't stuck thinking "WIMP, WIMP, WIMP".

FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) is defined on wikipedia.org as a "tactic of rhetoric used in sales, marketing and public relations....a strategic attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative (and vague) information". In layman's terms, it's a bunch of bull to scare people into doing what they want you to do. Linux and the Open Source community are no strangers to FUD.

Barracuda Networks is actively seeking the support of the free and open source software (FOSS) community in its battle against a patent suit brought against it by Trend Micro.

AS the Senate prepares to tinker with the nation’s patent laws this spring, it’s worth recalling the law of unintended consequences.