RIM has been suffering at the hands of the US Patent Office, from getting sued and settling for $450 Million because some unused patent existed in the states for "messages transmitted wirelessly".  Then blocked from selling their device to anyone but government.  Now the patent has been licensed to a new competitor in the states.  Sheesh.

Well, enough about RIM.  What concerns me is they've also issued patents on STORYLINES!!  Yes, you could patent the idea of a story where the hero is actually the son of the villian, and sue Lucas for millions!!!

I also just read about "Submarine" patents.  Where the someone files for a patent, then stalls the process for possibly years (no deadlines on filing), and when someone finally produces something profitable like that patent, they push it through and sue.  The original filing date is the date used, not when the patent is issued.  Also, since they award such vague patents, or allow patenting of logical next steps (eg. placing a url in an email), it get's ludicrous!

To top it off, the US is trying to implement a global patent system.  Great.