IBM's But-I-Only-Got-The-Soup Patent

theodp writes "In an Onion-worthy move, the USPTO has decided that IBM inventors deserve a patent for splitting a restaurant bill. Ending an 8+ year battle with the USPTO, self-anointed patent system savior IBM got a less-than-impressed USPTO Examiner's final rejection overruled in June and snagged US Patent No. 7,457,767 Tuesday for its Pay at the Table System. From the patent: 'Though US Pat. No. 5,933,812 to Meyer, et al. discussed previously provides for an entire table of patrons to pay the total bill using a credit card, including the gratuity, it does not provide an ability for the check to be split among the various patrons, and for those individual patrons to then pay their desired portion of the bill. This deficiency is addressed by the present invention.'"

Comments

ask slashdot: stupid (useful) fart tricks

[Anonymous Coward]

Tooty writes If there's one thing that makes a man a man (and even more so for us geeks and nerds!), it's an abundant supply of ass gas. Considering our diet, it's no surprise we spend a considerable portion of the day (and night) letting it rip. So what cool tricks do you have up your sleeve (or, ass, as it were)? Personally, I like to pull the covers up over my head and bask in the stink. Kathleen acts disgusted, but I think she enjoys it too.

Re:Go to restaurant

[Arthur Grumbine]

1. Eat food.. 2. Split bill.. 3. ??? 4. IBM Profits!!!

This idea was invented by Shampoo. I expect IBM will be hearing from Shampoo's lawyers (aka squirrels) soon...