Here's a GEM that Microsoft recently got the patent on...

[Svartalf]

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7423643.html

Granted just last year. It kind of boggles the mind that the USPTO grants patents on this sort of stuff. It's almost as if they check to see that you've properly followed the process, if you're well-off, grant on the spot- if you're not they flip a coin and based on that, go looking for irrelevant things to "invalidate" your patent application (At least that's been my experience from the other end of that equation...)

[RealNC]

If I had the money, I would have patented a whole crapload of stuff by now.

[Jaikers]

If I had the money, I would have patented a whole crapload of stuff by now.

I'm with this guy.

[nanonyme]

If I had the money, I would have patented a whole crapload of stuff by now.

Let's gather together tons of money and find a lawyer who can manage to make a phrase sufficient such that we manage to patent the act of patenting things?

[SlickMcRunfast]

nanonyme, look up "Open Invention Network". This group does exactly what you mentioned.

[Xeno]

I think it should be easy to undermine. ATI introduced this function in Radeon 8500 as TrueForm tm.

[Ant P.]

Looking at the summary, it sounds like this only patents doing it in software before sending it to the graphics card... so just send the data to the card and do it using a shader instead.

[misiu_mp]

Well, we can only be happy patents lasts 'only' 20 years. Copyright locks most of world heritage in exclusive control for much longer than you'll live. All thanks to The Disney Corporation.