Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Will Patents Make NCAA Football Playoffs Impossible?

Posted by timothy on from the life-will-go-on dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Mark Cuban recently announced plans to create a college football playoff system, which many people (including President Obama) have been claiming has been needed for years. However, after doing so, Cuban received an odd email, claiming that he'd better watch out, because a college football playoff system is patented and anything he did would likely infringe. The patent wasn't named, but Techdirt believes it has found the patent in question, along with another pending patent application (which has some amusing errors in it — such as an abstract that says it's about a boat fender, rather than a sports playoff system). So is it really true that some random guy in Arizona is the only person who can legally set up such a college football playoff system?"

3 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. The lunatics have taken over the asylum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Ever wondered why your country is getting it's ass kicked in every sphere known to mankind except the number of lawyers per head of population?

  2. Re:Why have that in colleges at all? by Corbets · · Score: 0, Troll

    Because they hope that the example will encourage people not to become fat impotent nerds on Slashdot?

    Get over it man - most of America loves college sports, and your bit of nerd ragin' isn't going to change that.

  3. Re:Enjoy your innovation ... by tomhudson · · Score: 1, Troll
    The so-called patent is a joke. If you read the blog post, a "method patent" .. "issued long ago" - hint for the clueless, these things expire, so this is just someone having random fun at your expense.

    You should also consider that the playoffs are already owned by someone, as in, the patent for resolving the FBS championship by way of a playoff was issued long ago. It’s called a method patent, so be careful not to infringe it.

    Anyway, if you want to know who owns assets in this field, let me know. I can put you in touch with one of my attorneys who can let you know what you’re in for. It’s much more complex that it’s commonly understood to be.

    It's a joke, people.

    Then again, so is college football.

    Then again, so is American football.