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BountyQuest CEO Patenting Lighting Toilet Water
theodp writes "Charles Cella, CEO of the widely-hyped Jeff Bezos and Tim O'Reilly funded patent reform vehicle BountyQuest, has filed for a number of patents since BountyQuest's demise, including one that covers illuminating water in a toilet bowl (see FIG. 7). Cella's co-inventors include principals of Color Kinetics, which has come under fire for strong-arm patent tactics and whose Board colorfully likens its IP to nuclear weapons."
Bah!
When I was young, we used to chug a pitcher of Plutonium and really light up the bowl.
Indy Media Watch-Proctologist of the Internet
This guy is full of
shit
Have a read down the list below. If this patent is granted, we will all be
taking dumps in the dark.
The items in question:
57. A method of providing illumination for a toilet, comprising: providing a
light system with a plurality of LEDs and a processor for controlling a color of
light from the LEDs; and disposing the light system in connection with a toilet.
58. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it on the seat of the toilet.
59. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it in the toilet bowl.
60. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it in a rack above the toilet bowl.
61. A method of claim 57, wherein disposing the light system comprises disposing
it in connection with an odor control facility.
62. A system for providing illumination for a toilet, comprising: a light system
with a plurality of LEDs and a processor for controlling a color of light from
the LEDs; and a toilet, wherein the light system is disposed to illuminate a
portion of the toilet.
63. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed on the seat of
the toilet.
64. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed in the toilet
bowl.
65. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed in a rack above
the toilet bowl.
66. A system of claim 63, wherein the light system is disposed in connection
with an odor control facility.
Investigate Rumsfeld, Tenet for Torture
Is this him trying to get an utterly absurd patent to forward the cause of patent reform, or is he just the sort of whore who would take a CEO position at a patent-reforming company, then start patenting willy-nilly when it went belly up?
for all those who think that the sun shines out of their backside ...
Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do!
Yet another stupid patenting case. It's all getting pretty monotonous.
What we really need is a patent that *hurt*. Nothing will get rid of this ridiculous system, until we find a way to grab the legislators in the balls.
Maybe we need to play dirty. We need patents that compromise the US's national defense. Patents that prevent the IRS from doing its job. Patents that hurt lawyers, and politicians, and people in charge of the system who have no idea what they are doing.
Or is it just a bunch of blue-skying about lighting things up?
I think this is the sort of patent Justice Bradley described as the "foam" of the "advancing wave of improvement".
1) People like things lit
2) There's lots of ways of lighting things now.
3) Here, we'll broadly patent lighting up a whole bunch of things.
4) PROFIT
Though I think the "inventor" must have been forced at gunpoint to write this patent... consider the line "Example: as your tidy bowl reached the terrifying point of not flooding the sewer lines with chlorine at every flush, your tiny tricolor LED would pulse RED hues to alert you."
If he has a patent on lighting toilet water and I have lights in my swimming pool... does that mean I can be sued if I pee in my pool?
Oh wait, prior art. I did that twenty five years ago. *Whew*
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
This shit is very illuminating!
You can't handle the truth.
...lighting a fart?
Unless someone claims prior (f)art??!!
Sorry.
AT&ROFLMAO
Why would anyone want to illuminate the poo floating or sunken in toilet bowl water? Is this guy patenting this for sake of doing it?
FYI, most poo is brown (depending on your diet and health) and emits low molecular weight volatile organic compounds (this is why you smell it). I don't need to see it in the dark in the middle of the night. The next thing you know, they'll attach a linux cluster to it with sensors and cataloging every loaf-pinching session for monitoring your health, nutrient uptake, excretory efficiency rating, etc... Then when you're sick, the toilet can forward all the data to the doctors at the hospital.
"Yup Mr. Smith, it's right here in your toilet's log, your daily intake of fiber decreased over a 7 month period. We recommend that you buy 42 coconuts with the soft fiberous shell intact, and eat the shreaded fiber for one week. This will remove all of the undigested red meat that is obstructing your bowels."
Worse yet, I actually took the (wasted) time to write this scenerio.
look at the ingredients they intend to illuminate... i hope it's not all together...
6. A method of claim 5(container contains a fluid), wherein the fluid is selected from the group consisting of water, ammonia, bleach, window cleaner, insect repellant, insect killer, lotion, soap, liquid soap, kitchen cleaner, bathroom cleaner, shaving gel, cleaning fluid, lighter fluid, furniture polish, wood treatment, paint, primer, drain cleaner, disinfectant, room deodorizer, carpet deodorizer, room scent, perfume, cologne, shaving foam, toilet cleaner, aerosol, skin care fluid, suntan lotion, shampoo, surface cleaner, and liquid wax.
12. A method of claim 1(lighting a product), wherein the household product is selected from the group consisting of a pencil, a pen, a fork, a knife, a spoon, a kitchen utensil, a whisk, a broom, a bottle, a glass, a mug, a coffee maker, a toothpaste tube, a dispenser, a shampoo bottle, a soap holder, a razor, an electric razor, a hair dryer, a picture frame, a marker, a jar, a makeup facility, a perfume dispenser, a brush, a lipstick, and a candle.
IMHO the USPTO is giving out too many highly specific applications patents. maybe if i specify that my lighting system only illuminates the "toiletbowl-bound stream of urine just before surface impact, thereby creating a firework like display" i'll get a patent for lighting a toiletbowl too! then i can sue anyone who turns the light on to pee!
three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
It looks as if Color Kinetics is about to have much, if not all, of their IP portfolio ruled invalid because of a plethora of existing prior art from as far back as the 1970's. All of this has come to light (no pun intended) after their lawsuit with Super Vision International. With that in mind, I don't now how to take this one. Is this a stupid patent that just injures Color Kinetics IP case more, or are they serious? Wouldn't the existing LED based technology that is used to illuminate pools be considered prior art, i.e. the Boca Flash products?
Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
LEDs emit light, directly or indirectly, only on a few narrow wavelengths. Therefore unless you're looking for just those few colors you're going to have to do mixing of multiple LEDs to get intermediate shades.
Complicating things further is that not all wavelengths are emitted equally strongly, and also that the human eye doesn't perceive all color equally strongly. This isn't a case of RGB, or CMY, it's a few off-variations of differing intensities.
Therefore to produce a specific shade, say Corporate Logo Color, Pantone #22578, isn't a no-brainer. The same is true for visually smoothly fading from shade to shade, it's not just a matter of turning down Bank A and turning up Bank B. Instead some calculations need to take place to make it all look decent, and that is the space where Color Kinetics has got their patents.
BTW, for those interested, Color Kinetics makes a home product series, "Sauce". These are night-lights & light bulb replacements that can be set to strobe, flicker, cross-fade in different ranges, etc. They're pricey at US $10-20, are available at many toy stores, and tend to crap out after a year or two of use (the blue goes.)
I use mine in my bathroom as a ever cross-fading night light, also set to one shade or another on on an empty white living room wall to 'punch it up'. I've friends who use their's for mood lighting in their bedroom.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Color Kinetics has a long history of overly broad patent schemes. Some were so bad that a their competitors in the LED lighting field were forced to form an alliance to combat the CK's over-reaching patent strategies.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
I don't think I'd feel safe if I dropped the soap in that bathroom.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Don't worry. Robots never have any interest in abusing the orifices of innocent humans. Not even in Japan.
That's the tentacle demons' job, and their union is very touchy about demarcation issues and has high-level contacts with the yakuza.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.