[I wonder what if any effect this might have on crypto patents, e.g., Chaumian blinding?] "The European Parliament's decision to limit patents... risks creating a "patent war" with a fallout that could make it illegal to access some European e-commerce sites from the United States..." "Pure software should not be patentable, the parliament argued, and software makers should not be required to license patented technology for the purposes of interoperability--for example, creating a device that can play a patented media format, or allowing a computer program to read and write a competitor's patented file formats. " "The amendments also sought to ban the patenting of business methods such as Amazon.com's patent on one-click purchasing. " Full story at http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-5086062.html?tag=nefd_top steve