>  Does it really matter? Nobody stops you from doing it anyways, no
> matter how many patents there are on it (as long as you don't start
> selling it to others). In most countries it's not even illegal to do
> so. (In the few braindead countries where it technically is, who is
> going to catch you?)

What's wrong with wanting to sell a better gizmo?
If I went to the hassle of writing a complex piece of
software to do image enhancements enough to read a barcode
on a cruddy 18x18 64 level grayscale mouse image, I'd think the
right to sell it would be with the programmer who did all the work,
not with some company that says it was their idea.

Why should some company be able to patent a discovered
use of their product?  It'd be like Arm and Hammer wanting
to patent baking soda toothpaste, or Kodak patenting family
photo albums, or Ford patenting electric headlights for cars.

And, sure, nothing keeps someone from doing it
for themselves as a home project, but the threat of
lawsuits will keep anyone from investing in it as
a commercial venture.  At least without giving a cut to China.

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