This isn't news to anyone, but the state of patents in the software industry is a mess.  Two recent examples involving Amazon:

1. Amazon was awarded a patent for a "method and system for creating of gift clusters of multiple items in a client/server environment by users, and for the ordering of such user-defined gift clusters of multiple items".  In other words, you can tell Amazon that some items belong together as a gift.  Presumably you can write a single gift note and have the items all ship together.
2. Amazon is being sued for patent infringement for allowing users to sign in to partner sites with Amazon credentials and have access to shipping and related information from Amazon.  In other words, "Amazon.com users who go to Target.com or other Web sites only need to punch in billing details once".

As a software company owner, I find this type of stuff demoralizing.  These are great ideas but do not deserve patents.  "Staff Picks" at video stores and "Free Gift with Purchase" at retail stores are also great ideas but not patentable inventions.  All these crazy patents and infringement lawsuits are making it increasingly risky for small startups to launch innovative products and services.  What a shame.

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