The Electronic Frontier Foundation has commenced a new initiative to “protect innovation and free expression.”

The problem as they see it is that there have been a number of patents awarded without an adequate level of review from the US patent office.

They are spearheading this project on two different fronts:

One is to document the harm to free expression, and small businesses, and non-commercial efforts.

The other is to actually challenge the worst of the patents they identify with a re-examination request filed with the Patent Office.

Here are some recent topics of patents dealing with the web:

hyperlinks
POP-up windows
paying with credit cards online
affiliate linking

It’s good to se an organization like the EFF taking a stand on this issue.