Lawyer Sues To Get a Patent On Marketing

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday March 10, 2009 @12:07AM from the series-of-gears dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Lawyer Scott Harris, one of the inventors of the concept of a 'marketing company devoted to selling/marketing products produced by other companies in return for a share of their profits,' is appealing the USPTO's rejection of US Patent Application No. 09/387,823 which was intended to patent that 'invention.' This court action is important because it directly challenges the In Re Bilski ruling, which tightened the rules to get rid of most so-called 'business method' patents. One of Mr. Harris's legal theories is that a 'company is a physical thing, and as such analogous to a machine.' If the name seems familiar, it's because Mr. Harris has a long history of inventive legal maneuverings. I'm honestly surprised that SCO never tried to hire or sue him."

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becomes? by wjh31 · 2009-03-10 00:15 · Score: 4, Insightful

sorry, prior art, no dice
Another one bites the dust! by morgan_greywolf · 2009-03-10 00:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

IOW, since the court upheld in Re Bilski, this is another nail in the coffin for business patents.
What I'm waiting on is: What does this mean for software patents? I guess we're about to find out in the Microsoft v. TomTom case. I'm sure we all wait with bated breath.

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Re:The Future is Almost Here by DevConcepts · 2009-03-10 00:38 · Score: 5, Insightful

The lawyers will obviously need to eat and get haircuts....
Lawyers don't eat food, they consume the souls of their clients and their hair doesn't grow because their dead.
Re:We should really be asking: by codegen · 2009-03-10 00:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

Does this man really have the time and money to waste on something pointless like this?
He's a lawyer. You do the math.

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