Digital BW, The Print

>...
>On cart patents: Epson already strangled some third 
>party companies in the UK. ...

There some precedent for using the antitrust laws to attack the predatory
use of patents.  When I was at the FTC, such an action against Xerox is what
freed up the copier market.  No one is arguing that some patent system  is
not needed, but it has been and increasingly is being used by the large
companies to stifle competition.

One of the early cases I started involved AT&T's use of patents on silicon.
I remember well the plight of a small company that had no choice but to
cross-license all its technology to AT&T or be crushed by the large legal
club the giant could use against the small start-ups.  This matter became
part of the big AT&T case and settlement.  The little company was Intel.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com