Silly Inventions are Easy to Patent?

Eugene Quinn, the “IPWatchdog,” made an interesting comment recently in his newsgroup. Quinn sees a “double standard” in the Patent Office’s examination procedure.

[T]he Patent Office just doesn’t apply the law any more. There seems to be a double standard in the office. Things that are silly/stupid get patented without much time or consideration, perhaps because the Patent Office doesn’t believe anyone will ever use the patent. Things that are what we would consider “science related” actually get stricter scrutiny. This may make some sense, but the patent laws do not make such a distinction. I also think that the craziness that the Patent Office is allowing significantly contributes to the existence of scam invention submission companies. These scam companies can say with a straight face that any invention can and will receive a patent. Therefore, I think the Patent Office is to blame for many of the scams. Perhaps if Congress would let the Patent Office keep its own revenue better examinations could be had. That looked like it would be the casee earlier in the year, but last week the Senate seems to have stripped that measure in the appropriations bill.

-Gene