IBM Seeks US Patents For Offshoring US Jobs

theodp writes "IBM and other corporations are seeking patents for inventions covering the offshoring of US jobs. The USPTO is considering IBM's patent application for Outsourcing of Services, a 'method for identifying human-resource work content to outsource offshore of an organization' to 'countries where cheaper labor prices and/or cheaper materials are available.' Then there's Big Blue's Electronic Marketplace for Identifying, Assessing, Reserving and Engaging Knowledge-Workers for an Assignment Using Trade-Off Analysis, which provides a handy-dandy IBM calculator that drives home the point that you'll pay less for IGS India workers, whether onshore or offshore. And with its System and Method of Using Speech Recognition at Call Centers to Improve Their Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction, IBM describes how to operate in 'low cost foreign countries' with 'support people not having good English language skills, or having an accent that makes it difficult to understand them' by exploiting technology developed for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as other accent reduction techniques."

Comments

anyone else notice this?

[ILuvRamen]

If they're sucessful in holding up that first patent, that means no other companies could do it!!!! I hope they win when someone sues them or they sue someone over it. Then you'll only get cheap foreigners that don't speak english well when you call IBM support. I'm all for this one!

Hey don't worry

[Colin Smith]

Be happy.

In a couple of years the dollar will have fallen so far that the Indians will be off shoring to you!

Re:Hey don't worry

[maxwell demon]

Be happy.

In a couple of years the dollar will have fallen so far that the Indians will be off shoring to you! Then we'll see if your Hindi is better than their English! :-)

Can they do this?

[SanityInAnarchy]

Specifically, can you patent a business practice, or a business model?

I can understand patenting technologies that lead up to it, but patenting the whole thing? I have no idea if that's within the scope of a patent...

Re: Can they do this?

[ls -la]

Yes. The US Congress streamlined patent litigation by setting up a special court to cover it, and that court immediately set about ruling that everything under the sun is patentable.
That gives me a great idea. Hold on while I patent sunlight.

Re:At least Windows is made in the USA

[marcello_dl]

Nice to see you're proud Windows is made in your country. I'm proud it's not made in mine.