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How can a generic idea like this be patented? This is bullshit!
by somecallitblues 9y ago
How can a generic idea like this be patented? This is bullshit!
- dspillett 9y agoThis is not unusual. Look at the great many "something obvious ON THE INTERNET" patents that are out there and in some cases being enforced.
- davidmurdoch 9y agoThis is common. I recently found a patent covering advertising based on what a user likes on social media just the other day: https://www.google.com/patents/US9495693 https://www.google.com/patents/US9495693 Which is not only incredibly obvious, but also has a decade of prior art that could potentially invalidate it. Though I think was the USPTO is allowing here is the described mechanisms behind the concepts, not the concepts themselves.
- dsr_ 9y agoWelcome to the world of patents. The USPTO has a very specific goal: to maximize the number of patents which are granted, so long as they are valid by the USPTO's rules. Those rules do not require or even allow for a working example or model of the claimed invention(s). They also define the term "non-obvious" in a remarkably non-obvious way.
- spoiler 9y agoIt's not generic, though. The flow and the "architecture" described seems fairly specific from a glance, but I didn't look too much into it. It's the whole system/flow that is patented, not just the idea. You could probably make something similar and not infringe on the patent, but I am not sure about the morality of that.
- turc1656 9y agoYou think this is bad? Apple has a design patent on a rectangular display device with rounded corners. http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1701443/USD670286S1.pdf http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1701443/USD670286S1.pdf As if any self respecting engineer would design a device with sharp corners.