It's rumoured that Robert Treat once said:
>
> I think the deal is that those in Europe aren't currently subject to
> software patent litigation even if it violates US law. Further, some
> of the interpretations of the laws being proposed in Europe are fairly
> draconian, and could put more cautious open source distributors "out
> of business" so to speak. check out
> http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html for some informational
> links.
Yes, that's about right - in fact the link at the bottom of that page
leads to the proper Knoppix homepage which mentions even simple common
features like progress bars and scrollable windows being under threat. The
problem isn't even whether on not a project actually infringes a patent
anyway though - just checking whether on not it does can cost a huge
amount of money, so an unscrupulous corporate could put a project out of
business with an infringement claim that warrants further investigation,
whether or not the claim is valid.
As for the US issue - my understanding is that in the US you can only
patent complex software processes and concepts, whereas in the EU you will
be able to patent simple 'things' such as UI controls.
Regards, Dave