Why this guy sought this out, I don’t know, but here are some pretty stupid (inspired?) celebrity patents.
January 4, 2007
February 25, 2006
Compulsory Licensing
Compulsory licensing refers to a situation where a party is legally required to grant license over (intellectual) property to another party. While this notion is generally absent from United States Patent Law, it does exist in other countries. For example, the Patently-O blow points to the compulsory license clauses in French and German Patent Law.
Patently Silly
This humorous site, Patently Silly, offers perspectives on some of the more frivolou patents that have been granted. Some of them aren’t actually that silly, like this method for detecting pornographic images. I’ve read the research on it, it uses a probabalistic model of skin tones in an image to make the determination. Some of them are merely impractical, like this ergomonic notebook. Some are kind of stupid, like this apparatus which assists drinking and smoking in front of an audience.
Patent Economics
The Patent Prospector blog has an excellent overview of the economics of the patent system. Chief among these are the notion of monopoly power. Patents essentially grant inventors a limited monopoly on intellectual property.