PHP Notices: "Trying to get property of non-object" and "Undefined index"

(already described as a "feature request" without much information in http://drupal.org/node/360347)

My apache error log is ***filled*** with the following PHP Notices:

PHP Notice:  Trying to get property of non-object in /usr/local/www/drupal6/sites/all/modules/browscap/browscap.module on line 362
PHP Notice:  Trying to get property of non-object in /usr/local/www/drupal6/sites/all/modules/browscap/browscap.module on line 367
PHP Notice:  Undefined index:  parent in /usr/local/www/drupal6/sites/all/modules/browscap/browscap.module on line 90

The "get property" notices always come in pairs, and the "undefined index" is less frequent.

Browscap.module version : // $Id: browscap.module,v 1.6.2.3.2.4 2008/08/13 02:49:43 robloach Exp $

Environment:
Drupal 6.10
FreeBSD 7.1
apache-2.2.11_3
php5-5.2.9

Everything else in the site is working perfectly.