So, how about those 46 Patent Court Judges...

I guess, I have to ask if anyone thinks this is a problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/washington/06bar.html

From the article, the main thrust of the discovery:

        His (John F. Duffy's) basic point does not appear to be in
        dispute. Since 2000, patent judges have been appointed by a
        government official without the constitutional power to do so.

I don't consider myself qualified enough, but from my perspective, this
could be a nice big quagmire, in addition to the backlog already there
in the patent courts.

Could this also have an effect on the Patents that have been over
turned? Like for Blackboard and others that are doing predatory suits.

I know Blackboard had (many of its) patents overturned for validity, but
could they have another stab at getting them re-instated? Easily?

Any comments from the Device Drivers guys on the NDA and other patent
issues for those things written for the Linux Kernel?

Does this affect the BSD camps or any Apache's projects? (thinking
outside the box here) What about Open Solaris or things like Microsoft's
Patent Promise (or whatever its called... bleah)

Do we have a dreadful next couple of years dealing with patent issues?
Or is this an opportunity for the US-ian Federal Government to make a
good legislative decision? Once can only hope the US-GOV makes the right