This totally reminds me of a recent incident where someone suggested me to file for patents just because I am not getting success with the products/business I am building/trying to build. I did not get the point!

However I have to admit that I find it difficult to totally deny the existence of patents when I think about it from a specific angle such as "stackoverflow vs scrapers". What if stackoverflow had filed for a patent years back!!

EDIT: oh yes I am aware that content protection is a copyright issue and has nothing to do with patent. And thats why I said "thinking from a specific angle"; which means that it is not the exact analogy, it's just a picture how it might happen in the patent ground. And I am not trying to defend SW patents because they do not make sense, I am just bringing up the point that due credit should be given to original author and if he wants to patent it, it should be respected.