There are some critical patents that Thinkpads use in their trackpoints that ought to be expiring soon: http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/bibli

There are some critical patents that Thinkpads use in their trackpoints that ought to be expiring soon: http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=5570111&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=... http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=5521596&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=... http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=US&NR=5489900&KC=&FT=E&locale=en_EP http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?CC=...