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Xybernaut Patents Collar Computer
igargoyle writes "Wearable Computer manufacturer, Xybernaut, has encouraged the kludge that is the patent office by patenting collar based wearable computers. Besides being extremely vague, the whole thing sounds likes the Slashdot article, 'A Linux Machine For Your Collar.' There are many references to this idea, and computer collars have been used as nomadic radios and animal tracking devices before. Please help encourage this company to stop wasting taxpayer's money and encourage innovation instead of preventing it."
Before you reply, please read the patent file.
IANAL, but wouldn't these jackets made by Levi's & Philips, from 2001, count as prior art?
Right... the patent office has basically stopped screening patents in an effort to reduce costs. I've had a patent lawyer explain this to me, basically the USPTO office got sick of paying for detailed review of the ever increasing number of patent submissions. The unwritten protocol now is that almost anything goes and the review process essentially occurs if/when the case goes to court. In other words they want the companies to pay for the cost of review in the form of lawyers -only- if the claims in the patent are contested. If no one is going to contest the patent, why spend money reviewing? Its a sort of innocent until proven guilty approach with respect to prior art. Just because a patent is granted nowadays does not mean the claims were valid, it basically means they followed procedure properly.