You can patent anything (https://patents.google.com/patent/US6368227B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US6368227B1/en) and the barrier to having it granted

You can patent anything (https://patents.google.com/patent/US6368227B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US6368227B1/en) and the barrier to having it granted is incredibly low. The patent office works on the premise of granting the patent and letting the lawyers figure it out afterwards. Enormous volumes of nonsense patents are granted every year, "inventors" who then go forth and try to remora off actually innovators.