The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has proposed new rules that would effectively end the public’s ability to challenge improperly granted patents at the Patent Office itself. We need EFF supporters to file public comments opposing these rules this week. The USPTO is moving quickly, and staying silent will only help those who profit from abusive patents.
  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.orgEnglish
    32·
    10 hours ago

    Yeah this is bad, seeing what some people patent, apparently just hoping it will stick and make them some money down the line.

    I was going to put some particularly egregious examples here, but there’s too much choice - just search “worst dumb us patents” or some such.

    OK, this article focuses on dumb and pointless, which is what I was going for:

    2. A stick. Seriously, in 1999, someone received a patent for a toy made of “any number of materials including rubber, plastic, or wood including wood composites” for “an animal, for example a dog, to either fetch, carry or chew” and including “at least one protrusion extending therefrom that resembles a branch in appearance.” While the description is bad enough, you have to look at the image submitted to fully appreciate how ridiculous this one is. USPTO actually granted a patent on a fake stick.

    1. My all-time favorite dumb patent is Apple’s design patent for… a rectangle with rounded corners. Granted in 2012, Apple received a patent for the shape of its product, which is pretty standard. It’s a rectangle. It has rounded corners. The entirety of the single claim reads, “The ornamental design for a portable display device, as shown and described,” with several pictures of what looks to be the shape of an iPad.

    • FatCrab@slrpnk.netEnglish
      12·
      12 hours ago

      What is described in the second point is literally how Design Patent claims work. They don’t work the same way as utility patents. Anyway, yea, people not knowing how patents actually work aside, leadership at the USPTO is currently fucked.

      • chaogomu@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        10 hours ago

        The point is that design patents are fucking stupid and should not exist in the first place.

        Apple has sued other phone manufacturers over them making a rectangle with rounded corners.

        And it’s fucked.

        • FatCrab@slrpnk.netEnglish
          2·
          8 hours ago

          Design patents effectively work like brand protection. They literally only protect new aesthetics and ornamentation. The reality is that the iPhone did start the trend of rounded corner rectangular touchscreen phones. When it first came out, it was a fairly novel form factor for a phone. It didn’t prevent other form factors from being released. Like, the fact that it is now so ubiquitous that we take for granted smartphones look this way is a testament to its success. And, actually, plenty of phones did right angle screen corners. Design Patents are extraordinarily narrow things and, among the many issues with the current USPTO and the US IP system in general, it is probably the absolutely least problematic piece.