THE president of the FFII warned us some time earlier this month that the EU seemingly planned to criminalise patent violations and today the FFII shows us this document titled "Towards more effective criminal enforcement of intellectual property rights". To treat infringements like a crime would be absolutely irrational and even dangerous. And here is another outrageous patent story:
[O]f course, where "obvious" and "internet" meet, there are almost always patents to get in the way. Mike Wokasch alerts us to the news that a company called Carlson Marketing Worldwide is suing beermaker MillerCoors over its "Miller High Life Extras Loyalty Program." The patent in question, 6,039,244 is incredibly short... and broad, and covers a form of creating a database for a loyalty program. It's only three claims long, with the first claim being the only one that matters. Read that claim and explain how this patent was ever found to be legit.