Proposition regarding software patents in Europe (Score 5, Interesting)

Mr Perens, The European parliament is scheduled to vote for or against software patents on the 1st of September. A number of MEPs, most of them British, try to push the Parliament to adopt laws similar to the US ones. Microsoft and legal firms specialized in IP are pushing hard for it. In fact, the first proposal for this directive was written by an employee of BSA. Currently patents related to software algorithms are illegal in Europe, which does not prevent the European Patent Office from accepting them anyway. Bill Gates made clear in a recent interview that IP was a problem for Linux. Do you think Microsoft could in the future sue Linux companies on the basis of patent violation? If this happens, what should be the reaction of the open source software community?