A really lame patent: Method of swinging on a swing. See discussion on Slashdot.

Is it possible that there is a snowball effect in the area of patents?  The reasoning goes like this: a few lame patents are awarded, like patents for business processes.  The companies that receive these lame patents use them successfully to advance their business.  Other companies take note, and apply for lame patents to advance their business.  Because the patent office is then swamped with so many patent applications, it can't conduct adequate reviewing of the applications.  Therefore the patent office awards even more lame patents.

The bottleneck, of course, is in the courts.  They can nullify bad patents, but it takes a long time.

10:49:57 PM   

Posted today on slashdot:

"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back." -- Robert Heinlein

Amen!

9:14:18 PM