>  The idea is that you can't steal someone else's invention and start
> making money with it.

I was using a version of an optical mouse in the late 80's.
I'm not sure how combining two old inventions equals a new
one is all.  If someone invents something they deserve to
be able to make money off of it. It seems to me that
patents are being used to bully the small time competitors
in this case.  HP and Agilent file thousands of patents and are
in court on a regular basis.

In 2002 HP and Agilent  lost a lawsuit about how they falsely
certified to the US government that they had complied with
FDA requirements regarding medical equipment, when in
fact they were using cheap Chineese made components.

Earlier this year they won a lawsuit about one of their
employees threatening the life of someone and harassing
them, even though they knew about the employee's
behavior on their behalf.

In 2005 Finisar filed a suit for 1.2 billion in patent
infrigments againt Agilent after they repeatedly refused
to license "circuitry and methods for monitoring
optoelectronic devices, such as optical transceivers"

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