Software patents & EU? (from Dexterity)

[dfvdan]

Hi all!

I have mostly be lurking here for the past months, mainly due to not having much in terms of knowledge to contribute yet, being the newbie that I am.

However, I am working silently on my game which is nearing completion. At the same time I am ramping up the business aspect of things and will relatively shortly start marketing activities.

As this will (hopefully) make me and my company quite visible, I am curious as to what the current status is on the bogus patents used by Goldberg et. al. to extort small businesses? Have any progress been made in fighting these patents (have searched the net and these forums, but seen nothing since EFF decided to fight them).

Also, do anyone know if these issues are even relevant for companies based in the EU (I'm in Sweden)? Are we vulnerable?

Thanks in advance for any answers, and many thanks for a great site!
Cheers,
Daniel

[Jack Norton]

Could you tell me what those patents are about? I don't know much about them

[dfvdan]

Could you tell me what those patents are about? I don't know much about them

They recieved lots of press after Goodsol and StarChamber.net (among others) recieved patent infringement letters a few months ago. Wired ran an article, and I think it was on slashdot as well. EFF also lists the Goldberg Patents on its top 10 hitlist of patents they plan to challenge.

Basically, they claim patent to card games, internet scoreboards, network driver advertising (popups etc.) among other things. While there is loads of prior art, it is costly and time consuming to challenge patents (no matter how lame they may be) which is a threat to small businesses.