4 ms·
My favorite example of the broken patent system is United States Patent 6368227: Method of swinging on a swing. Abstract: "A method of swing on a swing is disc
by gaurav_v 16y ago
My favorite example of the broken patent system is United States Patent 6368227: Method of swinging on a swing.
Abstract: "A method of swing on a swing is disclosed, in which a user positioned on a standard swing suspended by two chains from a substantially horizontal tree branch induces side to side motion by pulling alternately on one chain and then the other."
Link: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6368227.html http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6368227.html
And some news coverage: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2178-boy-takes-swing-at-us-patents.html http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2178-boy-takes-swing-a...
- rst 16y agoMy own pet example is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich patent, which the J.M. Smucker corporation really and truly did sue to enforce: http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.aspx?id=14617&deptid=3# http://www.ipfrontline.com/depts/article.aspx?id=14617&d... That link is to a pro-patent website which notes that Smucker failed to enforce the patent (against a grocer from Michigan), after multiple rounds of reexamination, and concludes, of course, that the! system! works! Strangely, they fail to mention the amount of money and time lost to the grocer in fighting Smuckers's overreach...