Linus says Patents are a real problem

After Michael Widenius of MySQL denouncing patents, now it's Linus' turn. During a panel at LinuxWorld, Linus said: "I agree that the patents as they stand now are a real problem. Something should be done to make changes to the laws, either making software patents a non-issue by not granting them or making them unenforceable. I don't know how to do that in the next nine months. Start writing your letters now and if they get enough, maybe they won't think you're a crackpot. We need a level-headed person to be an advocate for this." RMS's comment that "three years ago, Congress passed a law that doctors aren't restricted by patent infringements in surgery" shows that writing your representative might not be a complete waste of time. You can lookup your representative here. Thanks to Jean-Paul Smets for this one.