I've got your prior art right here

In case we needed further evidence that the US patent system is broken.  Filed in 2003 and then revised repeatedly until awarded January 22, 2008.   A patent covering mobile entertainment and communication device.  So lets overlook the fact that talking on a phone is entertainment and communication - lets say it's just communication.  Now lets turn to the Palm Treo, originally introduced in 2002.  The thing came with games and limited music playback abilities.  I'd say that's prior art.  Next is the Nokia Communicator introduced in 1996, then updated substantially in 2000 (still before 2003).  Somehow this company was awarded essentially a patent on any cell phone that can play music or movies.  So today they're suing just about every cell phone company and maker out there.  Including - Apple for the iPhone.  

Patents are supposed to be excluded based on prior art concepts.  So if I invent a waffle iron shaped like a computer monitor, that's not a patent because those things already exist.  Similarly, you would think that if Apple takes an iPod and puts a phone into it - that would be prior art.  Right?  I think what ultimately angers me about these lawsuits (other than driving stock prices down) is that they seem unethical.  There are genuinely important patents out there.  But then there are companies that do nothing but file for patents with intention of making all of their income off of them.  Before you say - "what about a think tank" I should remind you that this is not a think tank.  Filing a patent for a hybrid car after you rode in your friends prius isn't the same as inventing and implementing an electric car before anyone else did.  That's where the patent system has gone wrong - there are no longer requirements on an implementation to file for them.  Essentially I could go patent the idea of making a car run off my own urine and then if it ever came about - I could sue anyone who actually made it possible later on.  Hopefully the writers from Back to the Future were creative enough to patent the idea of time travel, or at least a car that ran on garbage (time travel optional).

If you think this doesn't happen often - google the SCO vs. Linux fiasco.