Patents and the GPL

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(see threads http://forums.oscommerce.com/viewtopic.php?t=26299 and http://forums.oscommerce.com/viewtopic.php?t=27293 ) 

There's been a bit of activity in the US with online merchants being sued for patent infringement, a couple of osCommerce users included it seems. As awful as this all is in its own right, I'm curious how this interacts with section 7 of the GNU GPL.

[quote="GNU GPL: Section 7"]
7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
[/quote]

Any thoughts?