Our ongoing Reclaim Invention campaign urges universities not to sell patents to trolls. This month’s stupid patent provides a good example of why. US Patent No. 8,473,532 (the ’532 patent), “Method and apparatus for automatic organization for computer files,” began… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘Stupid Patent of the Month’
Stupid Patent of the Month: IBM Patents Out-of-Office Email
Update: March 1, 2017 Today IBM told Ars Technica that it “has decided to dedicate the patent to the public.” While this is just one patent in IBM’s massive portfolio, we are glad to learn that it has declared it… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: A Lyrics Website With User Interaction
Song lyrics are some of the most searched-for topics on the Internet. This has lead to fierce competition among lyrics sites. If you scroll to the bottom of one of these websites, you’ll see the claim: “Song discussions is protected… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Movies From the Cloud
The Onion once ran a piece titled “I invented YouTube back in 2010.” The joke, of course, is that YouTube launched in 2005. This month’s Stupid Patent of the Month is just as ridiculous. US Patent No. 8,856,221, titled ‘System… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Changing the Channel
Is somebody really claiming to have invented a method for switching from watching one video to watching another? This question comes from a lawyer at the New York Times, as an aside in an interesting article about the paper’s response… Read More ›
Stupid Design Patent of the Month: Rectangles on a Screen
On October 11, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the long-running Apple-Samsung litigation. The issue is whether Apple, by virtue of having its designed patents infringed by Samsung, is entitled to all of Samsung’s… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Elsevier Patents Online Peer Review
On August 30, 2016, the Patent Office issued U.S. Patent No. 9,430,468, titled; “Online peer review and method.” The owner of this patent is none other than Elsevier, the giant academic publisher. When it first applied for the patent, Elsevier… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Solocron Education Trolls With Password Patent
Another month, another terrible patent being asserted in the Eastern District of Texas. Solocron Education LLC, a company whose entire “education” business is filing lawsuits, owns U.S. Patent No. 6,263,439, titled “Verification system for non-traditional learning operations.” What kind of… Read More ›
Stupid Patent of the Month: Storage Cabinets on a Computer
How do you store your paper files? Perhaps you leave them scattered on your desk or piled on the floor. If you’re more organized, you might keep them in a cabinet. This month’s stupid patent, US Patent No. 6,690,400 (the… Read More ›
Stupid Patent AND Trademark of the Month: My Health®
This month features not only a stupid patent, but also a stupid trademark to go along with it. My Health, Inc. is the owner of U.S. Patent No. 6,612,985, which is entitled “Method and system for monitoring and treating a… Read More ›