Locking up the IP Criminals in Europe

The Int'l Herald Tribune has an article on proposed criminal penalties for IP infringement under consideration in the EU. The EC wants to show it's serious about IP enforcement to protect inventors and promote innovation, BUT

Some of the biggest patent owners have themselves been accused of patent infringement. Microsoft owns around 5,000 patents and is currently fighting 32 infringement claims, the company's spokesman in Brussels, Tom Brookes, said.

Note an FFII campaigner (open source advocate) admits

This law doesn't make much sense for anyone in the patent world