Somewhere over the second cup of coffee, I opened the business section of the Roanoke Times for Sunday, November 27th.  The lead article is about a man named Andrew Knight who is trying to patent the 'IDEA BEHIND A NOVEL'. 
The article is written by Andrew Kantor, (andrew.kantor@roanoke.com), and basically is about a man too stupid or lazy to actually write a story.  He's mad because once upon a time he mentioned something to a friend who mentioned it to another friend and many friends later, someone made it into a movie.  Poor Mr. Knight didn't get a dime.  Tsk, Tsk.

Unfortunately, he's a patent agent by trade and has filed an actual patent 'to protect story lines'.

Please everyone!  Gather the wagons in a circle and get ready for the attack.  The article indicates that he has little chance of winning until he gets to the Federal Appeals Court.  There, it may actually pass, according to Debbie Lucas, Intellectual Properties Manager for Virginia Tech University.

Help us, somebody...And quickly.