A really lame patent: Method of swinging on a swing. See discussion on Slashdot.
Is it possible that there is a snowball effect in the area of patents? The reasoning goes like this: a few lame patents are awarded, like patents for business processes. The companies that receive these lame patents use them successfully to advance their business. Other companies take note, and apply for lame patents to advance their business. Because the patent office is then swamped with so many patent applications, it can't conduct adequate reviewing of the applications. Therefore the patent office awards even more lame patents.
The bottleneck, of course, is in the courts. They can nullify bad patents, but it takes a long time.
Posted by Doug Sauder at April 16, 2002 10:49 PM