WHEN WILL THE PATENT MADNESS END?

ONE CLICK, TWO CLICKS, RED CLICK, BLUE CLICKS

My apologies to Dr. Seuss (and please don't sue me).

Appears that Microsoft has obtained another one of those "frivolous patents" folks keep complaining about -- well, at least the folks NOT getting the patents are complaining about.  From Wired, U.S. Patent No. 6,727,830 issued to Microsoft on April 27, 2004 and purportedly covers double clicking or "long clicking" to turn on a Pocket PC or to swap between applications.

The outrage:

"What was the patent office thinking?" wondered Brandon Shalton, founder of Fight the Patent, a site that protests questionable patents. "I'm just kind of amazed that this patent was filed so late and was approved. It's a double-click. It was novel and unique 10 to 15 years ago."

The rebuttal:

Still, Frank Bernstein, a partner at the law firm Sughrue Mion, said an initial reading of the patent indicated that examiners investigated Microsoft's claim thoroughly before it was approved, looking at examples of prior technologies, such as the Palm III handheld. "My visceral reaction is this is not a patent I would characterize as frivolously obtained or frivolously granted," Bernstein said.

When will the madness end?  Maybe, Spring Break 2005?