Patents

[cdybedahl]

While googling for pages on wood finishes, I stumbled upon one that seems to say that finishing wood with linseed oil is a patented process in the United States of America. That's even more ridiculous than the patent on using XOR to draw cursors. Is the US Patent Office even supposed to sanity-check patents, or do they just automatically approve everything that gets submitted as long as nobody else has submitted it first? In which case, someone might make a lot of dough out of patenting the wheel. Or the process of using heat to cook.

Comments

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Oh it gets better (worse?)..there's also a patent on using a laser pointer to entertain a cat. Damn, I forget where that link is...

http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US05443036__

Ah! There it is!

Man, patents can be dumb :).

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

But at least laser pointers are newish. Using linseed oil on wood has been done for millenia!

Wow, impressive!

[jegra.livejournal.com]

Hm, I see a huge income in getting a patent on using a saddle as a device to put between horse and rider while exersizing the horse.... *rub hands*

A method of cooking food using specific wavelengths of radiant energy.

[norikos-author.livejournal.com]

This patent covers a method for cooking food using wavelengths of radiant energy between 1 and 350 microns.

Claim 1: Radiant energy generated by controlled oxidation of hydrocarbons.

Claim 2: Radiant energy generated by electrical excitation of certain metals.

Claim 3: Concentration of naturally occuring radiant energy present in sunlight.

Wonder if I could actually get it through....