Re: Jackpot Federal Court Appeal won

On Sat, 28 May 2005 12:49:59 +1200, Terry Given wrote:
> Tim Shoppa wrote:
>>> Yet. :>(
>>
>> Actually, they did patent it, but the court seems to have ruled that
>> their patent cannot stop others from implementing the same obvious
>> formula in their equipment.
>
> its pretty scary really, the number of patents which IMO are blindingly
> obvious to anyone with a modicum of skill. Rudy Severns has written some
> hilarious stuff on bull*** patents. Most things have been thought of
> before.

Some years ago, there was a newspaper or newsmagazine article on some
guy who accidentally patented the wheelbarrow. He had applied for one
on some kind of add-on swivel handles, to make it easier to dump,
but the patent office issued a patent for the whole thing. Presumably,
since there was no prior art on a common wheelbarrow, and I'm guessing
that the Harvard-educated patent attorneys had never seen the outside
of an ivied hall or chauffeured limo, the idea looked novel to them.
;-)

Cheers!
Rich

.

Quantcast