'Patently Ridiculous' - What's Wrong With The PTO

PhxBlue writes "The St. Petersburg (FL) Times wrote an editorial this morning lambasting a patent system which allows patents for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and swinging sideways. It has some background on how the patent system became as FUBARed as it is, citing rulings by the Supreme Court in 1980 and by the federal patent appeals court in 1998; but more importantly, it brings the faults with the US patent process to a more public eye."

Comments

Re:The Wheel

[ghostis]

Here is the story:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/state/2001/0 7/02/FFX 0ADFPLOC.html

Simple mistake

[cgenman]

take the space out of the link and it works fine.

Info on 'What can be patented?'

[lwbecker2]

The US Patent Office has a page on "What can be Patented"

Some interesting excerpts for those to lazy to click through:

"...any person who 'invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent,' subject to the conditions and requirements of the law."

The patent law specifies that the subject matter must be "useful."

"... patent cannot be obtained upon a mere idea or suggestion. The patent is granted upon the new machine, manufacture, etc..."