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IBM Wants Patent For Lotus Notes-Free Meetings

Posted by timothy on from the taketh-away-with-the-other dept.

theodp writes "Over at IBM, the Lotus Notes team has 'invented' preventing the use of their own product during meetings. Self-described patent reformer Big Blue has asked the USPTO for a patent covering Suppressing De-Focusing Activities During Selective Scheduled Meetings by forcing meeting attendees to 'submit to the computing system suspension requirements.' What's next — a patent for Verizon for blocking cellphone usage during movies?"

1 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. IANAL, etc. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But this seems pretty tepid. Software designed to enforce situation-specific social norms is not at all new(SMART's somewhat creepily named "Synchroneyes" is one that has been commercially available for a long while now, MS's "digital manners" application came out a while back, and I've run into a number of browser plugins and other utility programs designed to stop timewasting).

    The only novelty, and it is a slender one, is using a calendar event as a stimulus, rather than time or location or some other variable.