Washington Mutual Patents the Bank Branch

ewhac writes "Okay, so it's not a bank branch per se, but a particular kind of bank branch -- one that has play areas for kids, serves coffee and popcorn, and has kiosks instead of teller windows. Washington Mutual has dubbed this branch design, "Occasio" (a generic Latin word meaning, "favorable opportunity," and which has probably been trademarked). The San Francisco Chronicle reports that it may be the first time the USPTO has awarded a patent for the design of a retail store/presence."

Comments

Yes, "Occasio" is trademarked

[Motherfucking Shit]

Here, here, here, and here. Washington Mutual owns all of them.

Re:Yes, "Occasio" is trademarked

[bar-agent]

And here is the actual text of the patent.

Since when is environment patentable?

[Crudely_Indecent]

I can understand patenting logos, designs, even shoe tread patterns.........but furniture layout?

Ok, I'm going to file for my own patent. I'll call it "Geek Apartment" and it will consist of empty soda cans, dirty laundry, an unmade bed, and between 6 and 14 computers in various states of assembly (all running however).

There's your fair warning, soon you'll all be paying me royalties, or cleaning your apartments.

Re:Since when is environment patentable?

[josh3736]

There's your fair warning, soon you'll all be paying me royalties, or cleaning your apartments.

Finally, you have given us a reason to get off our collective asses and clean up that funny stuff that's been growing in the corner.

So I say, patent away! You'll be doing a favor for society.

Re:Since when is environment patentable?

[kunudo]

I think there might be some prior art on that one... :)

However, I have a feeling that that won't stop the USPTO from awarding you your patent...

Re:Since when is environment patentable?

[dbarclay10]

Ok, I'm going to file for my own patent. I'll call it "Geek Apartment" and it will consist of empty soda cans, dirty laundry, an unmade bed, and between 6 and 14 computers in various states of assembly (all running however). There's your fair warning, soon you'll all be paying me royalties, or cleaning your apartments.

Finally, you have given us a reason to get off our collective asses and clean up that funny stuff that's been growing in the corner.

The last time I tried to clean up the funny smell that's been growing in the corner, it beat me with a stick and made me feed it Doritos crumbs.

Re:Since when is environment patentable?

[msobkow]

The environment became patentable when the US government was sold to the corporations through campaign contributions.

You and your vote don't matter to them anymore unless you've got the finances and clout to smack them with a serious lawsuit. Thanks to electronic voting which has no reliable paper trail, the embarassment of the Florida election recounts will be a thing of the past. Now they can just change the history records to ensure the talking head of choice has the presidency.

Looks like William Gibson was right about more than he should have been.

Re:Since when is environment patentable?

[Tablizer]

The last time I tried to clean up the funny smell that's been growing in the corner, it beat me with a stick and made me feed it Doritos crumbs.

It's called a "wife"

Physical design

[bar-agent]

I'm actually okay with this one. At least this is a patent on something physical, something that can be built.

A retail layout is more like a device to increase sales, than a business method is.

Re:Physical design

[Vicegrip]

A 20 year monopoly on the arrangment of 'stuff' is ok with you?

By the way, I hope you are not infringing my patent on "poor taste furniture" covering such things such as the use of duct tape to cover broken springs.

Also, if you hang up your towels next to your shower, I'm going to sue.

Re:Physical design

[kfg]

I'm actually okay with this one. At least this is a patent on something physical, something that can be built.

Dear Sir,

I note that the way you have laid out your work area including a play area for your child is my idea, as is the coffepot in the corner.

This is my intellectual property. If you do not remove the playpen and coffee pot you will be hearing from my laywers.

Good day.

KFG

Re:Physical design

[pavon]

Lets look at it another way. If you ask "Is this tolerable?" then there is always an argument that it is, and the system will just continue to get worse, but we will get accustumed to it, and each successive change won't look that bad.

We should instead be asking "Is this necisarry or benificial to society?". That is the whole purpose of patents - to provide individual incentive so that technology progesses quicker than it would otherwise. So ask yourself - did this invention require a large investment to discover that can only be recouped by granting a monopoly on it's use? No. I'm sure discovering the invention itself did not require any substantial investment. Implementing it will but those are normal business costs and don't need to be protected as everyone who implements this idea will have to pay them, not just the inventor.

Do the benifits of having the plans to this invention out in the open, as opposed to it being kept as a trade secret, overweight the detriment of having to wait 20 years to use those plans? No - this is a concept whose details are obvious once implemented and thus there is no chance for the inventor to hoard this idea as trade secret. In other words, the plan will be in the open regardless of whether it is patented or not, so it does not benifit society to wait 20 years for what it could have now.

Would the inventor still have invented this as quickly if patent system did not exist? Yes, and not only that but I am sure the bank would also have implemented the idea even if they couldn't patent it. This patent does nothing to benifit society so there is no reason that a sensible patent system should allow it.

Re:Physical design

[Ryosen]

> And kiosks for getting money in a bank does seem novel to me.

They even have a novel name for them..."ATM".

Ahhhh

[michaeltoe]

This kind of nonsense will just accelerate the collapse of our intellectual property system. It won't be pretty, but maybe it will actually work if we need to start from scratch.

Wouldn't a copyright be more applicable...

[mikael]

Furniture designers and architects file copyrights on their designs all the time. Wouldn't a copyright for a particular design be more appropriate. They really didn't invent anything new ... Dentists, doctors, DIY stores and fitness centres have been doing this for ages.

I hearby patent breakfast nook

[mo]

Here's a list of other building layouts that pop into mind as patentable based on this precedent:

• fast-food drive thru
• Ikea's linear flow (start in one spot, pay at the end
• Doctors' offices with the front desk and waiting room and the numerous patients' rooms behind the door.
• Fry's electronics queueing layout with impulse shelves
• Stadium Seating in the movies
• Casino layouts that obscure the exit

I was hoping to one day contract an architect to design a house that perfectly suited my family's needs. It would suck to have to get a patent attorney to check for prior art on my "invention".

The next step is to sue every McDonald's

[kfg]

with an ATM machine.

KFG

Perversion of IP

[PenguinJames]

This is a complete perversion of the concept of Intellectual Property. The US Consitution allows things like patents and other IP "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts". Recent patents granted by USPTO are just absurd, and do not fulfill the original intent of the Consitutional basis for IP in the US.

Laugh it's funny

[Quirk]

England had Monty Python America has the USPTO

Trade Dress

[cmason32]

I don't understand how the USPTO can give out this patent. The design of a store is typically protected by trade dress. The Supreme Court has explicity stated that you're not supposed to be able patent protection if something is normally covered by trademark law. Whomever approved this needs to be canned.

Re:Trade Dress

[bar-agent]

Perhaps this doesn't fall under "trade dress" because (according to the Wikipedia article you linked to):

Trade dress must also be nonfunctional in order to be legally protected; otherwise it is the subject matter of patent law, if anything.

Outta hand

[nurb432]

When do we get to hear about a patent awarded for " a method of refreshing spent oxygen in the blood stream of mammals".

A hundred years ago ...

[AhBeeDoi]

...somebody suggested that the USPTO be closed because everything that can be invented has been invented. It should be closed today because it's willing to grant patents on the wheel.

The admit they ripped off the concept

[tomhudson]

They're going to find themselves sued for stealing other people's ideas, now that they've patented it. Here's the relevant quote from their site:

"We took our cues from cutting edge retailers to provide an open, welcoming environment and top-notch customer service to draw customers into the branch and enhance the cross-sell of products and services," says Karen Curtin, the Planning and Franchise Development executive who leads the team responsible for creating and launching Occasio.

"Department stores long ago adopted the 'shop within a store' concept with Polo shops and Liz Claiborne shops," says Curtin. "We did the same. Our stores have shops of their own -- like a shop for investment products and for home loan products."

So we have their rep admitting to prior art, stealing the "idea" from Polo and Liz Claiborne (who never bothered to patent it because it really isn't patentable, but now that the USPTO says it is, hey, let the lawyers fight it out)...

Well heck

[Fizzol]

I'm filing a patent for my revolutionary "TV in the Bedroom" concept!

Are we surprised?

[Kwil]

I mean, c'mon, the USPTO makes the majority of its money these days on providing and renewing patents. It makes nothing on investigating or refusing them.

So really, the fact that they'll patent anything under the sun should come as no real shock to anybody.

You want to fix the USPTO? Fix how they get funded.

What about MacDonalds then?

[batkid]

If a bank branch can be patented, maybe MacDonald's can patent fast food chain stores. If you ask me, this whole patent thing is really stupid.

Re:a better example

[Lord Kano]

"Windows"
"Apex"
"Camel"
"Gateway"

There is no shortage of "regular" words that are trademarks in certain industries.

LK

Re:Ack!

[Meowing]

I hear someone actually patented Blue Jeans!

Yep, US patent 139121. And why not? The riveted canvas thing really was different at the time.

Prior Art

[jafiwam]

It just so happens that one of my web hosting customers has a very similar layout, and has had it since before August, 2000 when they registered their domain name through me.

They are a bank, and use electronic tellers (basically an electronic drive thru kiosk) for their tellers, cookies, coffee, lounge areas and toys.

The financial advisors are still at normal desks.

Having the money behind a pheumatic tube does not hurt the throughput any, and is a HUGE cost savings on insurance because there is NO MONEY a wood-be robber can grab. It's all in a locked room. Unless they have trained attack ferrets to go through the tubes... a guy with a gun is only going to get what's in the people's wallets.

The company that was pushing the kiosks came up with the ideas for the layout.

This bank is definately not the first one doing it, nor were they the first customers of the kiosk company.

So there is definately prior art...

Aside from that, the patent is stupid. Someone might make a case for an overall decor style (similar to the Aqua Mac thing, or the iMac format) but the physical placement of furniture and features of the lobby is not something that is inovative and it wasn't new when the patent was filed.

And good luck trying to rob one of these branches!

[the-other-bill]

As one of the droids that installs the servers (OS/2, yay!) and teller tower workstations (XP, locked down within an inch of its life) just let me opine that the primary advantage of the new WaMu Occasio branch design is that the money is just about nowhere to be found. You hand over your cash to the teller and it disappears into a slot just like a Reno blackjack dealer. You won't be changing your mind after that. To get your withdrawl money after your transaction with the teller, you amble over to a large vault on the floor, swipe your card, enter your pin and then the cash spits out into your hands. The tellers never have any money!

We had some clown try to stick up one of the branches here in Seattle and after he finally figured out that there just wasn't any money around to take, all he ever got was some heavy attention from the local constabulary who nabbed him down the road after he tried to hit up some other bank.

I'm guessing that the "unrobbability" is the pantentable part of all this, but I could be wrong. What do I know -- I don't explain'em, I just install'em. And from a geeks point of view, they are clean designs. And having a safe place to stash the rugrat for ten minutes ain't bad either, lemme tellya!

Wow. I'm honored.

[msobkow]

I know I must be hitting a few nerves when someone has to resort to implying I'm crazy rather than defend a situation. Oddly enough, my post history would seem to be that of a rational person.

I supppose I could have recently gone insane and not noticed.

I think it's more likely you're just willfully blind to the fact that America stopped being a real democracy quite some time ago. The vote is a sham to keep select people in a visible position of power, while the corp financing pretty much dictates what actually happens.

Got a stubborn senator or congressman? Just threaten to shut down that particular plant or office in their voting district, and you have approval. Presuming, of course, they didn't respond to offers of campaign contributions if they'd support a particular pet bill.

Or are you actually naive enough to think politicians are honest, or that they care about anything beyond the next election and their personal payback after they "retire" from office?

If they can help the people without risking a vote or financing, sure, it's good publicity. But when it comes down to their career or what's good for the citizens and the country, you don't matter. You are only one vote, and it's all about keeping the majority, not your particular vote.

..excuse me... but this is stupid

[Simonetta]

Getting a patent on the idea of providing a little play area for children while the parents are occupied with a transaction? My feminist friends have been suggesting this very thing for over thirty years now.

Getting a patent for the idea of serving popcorn?
Are the movie theatres going to have to make payments to these people?

C'mon...a patent is supposed to be for inventing something serious and useful. This is not patent material by any stretch.

But since we're in the mood, let me be the first girl to patent the blow job. Yes, I invented it and it is now my intellectual property! So pay up. Credit card payments are billed to:

Christian Missionary Support Services, Inc.

This is no more absurd than putting a play pen in the corner of the store. Now, putting a play pen for senior executives who came up with this idea (or the Patent Office bozos who approved it), that would be a patentable idea.

Re:..excuse me... but this is stupid

[dipipanone]

But since we're in the mood, let me be the first girl to patent the blow job. Yes, I invented it and it is now my intellectual property!

Not so fast, not so fast.

As your local USPTO inspector, before I can grant you your patent, I really think you'd better be giving me a demonstration of this so called 'new invention' that you've come up with.

I need to be able to compare it with some of the sex acts that various other women are claiming as 'prior art'.

Present yourself at my office, first thing on Monday morning -- and bring a sturdy pair of kneepads.

Re:Wow. I'm honored.

[daraf]

I know I must be hitting a few nerves when someone has to resort to implying I'm crazy rather than defend a situation.

Prone to illusion of persecution, specifically.

I think it's more likely you're just willfully blind to the fact that America stopped being a real democracy quite some time ago

America never was a 'real democracy', it founded as a 'republic' or 'representative democracy'. In contrast with (what I take you to mean by) a 'real democracy', we choose representatives to act in 'our' interests. However the constituency (county, congressional district, state, etc.) being represented usually have a variety of conflicting interests. When a rep steps up to the plate on any given issue, it's going to make some people all warm and fuzzy inside and it's going to piss some people off.

Now if you're a rep trying to decide what slant to take on an issue, are you more likely to listen to some ranting dork in bubble wrap, or someone who's willing to form a Political Action Committee and put their money where their mouth is?

You are only one vote, and it's all about keeping the majority, not your particular vote.

Yeah, that's pretty much the notion of democracy. The majority wins, with certain checks to built into the system to protect the minority, such as the bicameral legislature and Electoral College. Whether those checks are insufficient or give too much power to a minority of people is another debate altogether.

The vote is a sham to keep select people in a visible position of power, while the corp financing pretty much dictates what actually happens.

Corporate interests do indeed have a lot of influence and, amazingly enough, they represent a lot of people! However, there are a lot of groups that similarly have a lot of power without being aligned with corporate America or having an enormous warchest of money (the ACLU is one example, although I believe they are more focused on working with the judicial than legislative branches of government).

Bottom line, just because the majority is against you doesn't necessarily mean that they are controlled by some dark master. It could mean, however, they are actually committed to their views and are willing to spend resources to gain support for them, rather than just bitching on a chat board.