Could it be right? It almost sounds like a joke.
For me, it is just another point to prove how ridiculous the world, and more accurately, the capitalist world, has become.
Slashdot reported that US Patent and Trademark Office issued a really broad patent for a “mobile entertainment and communication device“.
“It’s a patent for a mobile phone with removable storage, an internet connection, a camera and the ability to download audio or video files. The patent holding firm who has the rights to this patent wasted no time at all. At 12:01am Tuesday morning, it filed three separate lawsuits against just about everyone you can think of, including Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, ATT, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, Samsung and a bunch of others. Amusingly, the company actually first filed the lawsuits on Monday, but realized it was jumping the gun and pulled them, only to refile just past the stroke of midnight. “
Did anyone ever patented the wheel? I need to check that. Could be a good way to pay my student debt.
Creative producer • typography geek • filmmaker wannabe • internet obsessed • Mac “genius” • photography enthusiast • nonstop reader • hopeless musician • anti-corporate freak • free-culture fighter • aspiring entrepreneur
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I reached your point of befuddlement at capitalism a while back when I noticed that companies were trademarking all kinds of everyday words. I figured I’d get a trademark for the word ‘the’.
You are so right Steve, I think this is another point of the silliness of it, Oracle trademarks the word Think, Apple trademarks the word Bonjour, etc.
I was thinking of trademarking the comma and the hyphen.