granted, it's a bit of a stretch to compare the graffiti fiasco with the business practice patents that various companies have taken out, but why must all of these big uberconglomerates decide that, all of a sudden, after all of these years, they suddenly have to protect ideas that they vaguely kinda had?

the problem they have is that they tend to put money into big spliffy complicated things with all sorts of neat buttons, and spurn the simple and intuitively obvious. then to cover up their big gooey "d'oh", they send in the lawyers.

we seem to live in a world where the technologically brilliant are constantly stifled by the charcoal-suited legal elite.

*sigh*

--t