Ridiculous eCommerce patents - should I be worried?

[Jan Wildeboer]

Alessandro Rubini schrieb:

> No. When the patent office grants a patent, they have already
> inspected all available prior art and the patent can be enforced.

Or better : They claim to have done that.

>  If
> they didn't find the prior art it doesn't count. It's up to you to
> show (in court) that the patent is invalid.  Did you guess why they
> started suing small companies?

Well - if they start suing Intershop, SAP et al I wouldn't be worried. 
But as they attack small companies I AM worried. I would like to prepare 
myself a bit before our users or even we - the programmers - become a 
target on their radar screen.

Are there any patent lawyers around here that could shed some light on 
this? Or should I post the same question on the fsf.org mailing list?

Jan Wildeboer