Information Research Weblog

This from Slashdot:

"A judge has delayed his ruling on the eBay patent infringement case. eBay has been involved in a legal dispute over the use of its popular "Buy it Now" button, which allows consumers to skip the bidding and purchase items on eBay directly. The patent suit was filed six years ago by MercExchange L.L.C. In May of 2003, a jury ruled in MercExchange's favor finding that eBay did in fact infringe on the patent, but in 2005 the US Supreme Court ruled that MercExchange was not automatically entitled to a court order blocking the offending service, essentially handing a victory down to patent reform advocates. However, the ruling by the Supreme Court does not affect the final judgment of the court."

Does this mean that 'Search' button on this page, or 'Post Item', or any other button (which, presumably, may simply be a link - like 'Home' on this page, could be illegal on the grounds that someone patented the idea?

Software patents really were the biggest nonsense perpetrated by the US Patent Office and are completely unnecessary: a program can be copyrighted, and copying of the entire programme or any significant part of it would be an infringement of copyright. Patenting simple interface features is crazy!