The International Herald Tribune has an article about how some lawyers are realising that [a href="vny!://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/19/business/norris20.php"]patents on tax reduction strategies[/a] (a business method) might be a problem.
The article states that there are already 50 such patents with more on the way, and at least one lawsuit. Particularly worrying is the idea of needing a license to follow the law. Fortunately, some of the laws get that this is a problem. Tax patents, the lawyers wrote, amount to 'government-issued barbed wire' to keep some taxpayers from getting equal treatment under the tax code. [hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]
Oh, wow, so NOW someone patents something that pinches lawyers, and it's "ZOMG! WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT!!!" from the lawyers, and all this business method patenting bullshit that has been going on for decades gets nary a finger wave all this time?
I'm shocked. Truly.
Even beyond the fact that patenting something has to do with obeying the laws of the land, the whole notion of patenting business methods (and many forms of software patents as well) was and has always been absurd and self-destructive.
