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IBM Snags Patent On Half-Day Off of Work Notifications
theodp writes "The USPTO appears to have lowered the bar on obviousness, awarding a patent to IBM Tuesday for its System for Portion of a Day Out of Office Notification. 'Out of office features in existing applications such as Lotus Notes, IBM Workplace, and Microsoft Outlook all implement a way to take a number of days off from one day to many days,' acknowledges purported patent reformer Big Blue. 'Yet, none of these applications contain the feature of letting a person take a half-day or in more general terms, x days and x hours off.' Eureka! And yes, the invention is every bit as obvious as you can imagine."
It's time for pitchforks and torches at the USPTO...
THE SOFTWARE, IT NO WORKY!!!
I'm wondering if anybody knows if IBM has a patent on employees having to ask to go to the bathroom. That was one of the more unique aspects of working at IBM, in my experience.
I don't respond to AC's.
He probably has a quota of patent applications he has to file.
appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars
It's probably a bunch of guys sitting around, trying to "one up" each other on who can get the most outrageous patent.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
Does this mean we (and whoever created our HR software) have to sue IBM? Or can we just ask for a cut when they start collecting license fees on this patent?
No. It's a valid US patent.
It means that IBM can sue whoever created your HR software and get an injunction to stop its sale in the US. Whoever makes your HR software would then need to fight IBM and a team of wicked sharp lawyers in court, and convince a bunch of dumb-fucks in East Texas, who have nothing better to do for three months than sit in a jury for $12 / day, that the patent isn't valid do to prior art or obviousness.
Welcome to the giant cluster fuck that is the US patent system.