Kodak's Java patent

Eastman Kodak has won a controversial lawsuit in which it claimed Sun Microsystems had infringed several of its patents with its Java programming language.

A federal jury on Friday ruled in favor of Kodak, and the photography giant is now seeking damages of $1 billion from Sun.

The case has outraged some opponents of software patents, who claim it is a textbook example of why software should not be patentable. [CNet News]

I haven't had time to look at these patents yet but I do agree that on the surface this seems like a pretty scary case -- is it likely that Java is the only important industry technology that could be held to infringe on this set of patents? No, it seems more likely that this could be just an opening salvo.