{"id":1106,"date":"2015-05-14T15:01:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T15:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/?p=1106"},"modified":"2015-05-14T15:01:13","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T15:01:13","slug":"wonderful-weird-patents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/2015\/05\/14\/wonderful-weird-patents\/","title":{"rendered":"Wonderful, weird patents"},"content":{"rendered":"

A (silly) post from our student blogger Megan<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey, readers (aka mom and dad), let\u2019s geek out and talk about strange patents! So it just occurred to me that there are about a bajillion weirdo patents out there and nobody gives them any love. Well, at least most of the big names in the patent world aren\u2019t dedicating their coveted blog space to the outcasts of IP society. I\u2019m here to change this, of course. Brown & Michaels, a nice intellectual property firm nestled in Ithaca, New York, clearly agrees with me because they have a page complete with links to wacky patents on their website (check it out at http:\/\/www.bpmlegal.com\/weird.html<\/a>). So sit back, enjoy a beer, bacon, or whatever you normally do when you read my blog, and let\u2019s explore the goofy side of IP.<\/p>\n

\"Hamster<\/a>If you\u2019re like me, you\u2019ve always dreamed of taking your pets everywhere with you. I know, you\u2019re probably saying that with the pet friendly shopping centers and stores that not only allow dogs inside, but also hand out treats to them, you can <\/em>already take your pets with you pretty much everywhere you go. But what about your hamster? And what about having your hamster really <\/em>close, like on your body close, all the time, everywhere. Well, that\u2019s what patent number 5,901,666 allows you to do. Aptly titled, \u201cPet Display Clothing,\u201d this patented invention allows you to wear a vest with clear tubing attached to the clothing that your pet hamster, Hercules, can chill out in while you\u2019re grocery shopping or catching a flight to Bemidji. Haven\u2019t seen this for sale in stores yet? Well, neither have I. The world just isn\u2019t fair.<\/p>\n

\"Divider\"<\/a>Even better than a hamster vest, here\u2019s a fantastic invention that my parents would have been thrilled to have when their three children were much younger: \u201cPortable Automobile Partition.\u201d Patent number 6,260,903, in all its genius, allows mom and dad to place a divider inside the car between their kids. I can still remember a family vacation to Florida when my obnoxious younger brother woke both my older brother and me up from a double-dose of parent-approved-deep-car-sleep. He did this by discreetly yanking locks of our hair and laughing. The pandemonium that ensued after that was like none other: screaming, crying, kicking\u2026 You name it\u2026we were that <\/em>family. My poor parents, they still haven\u2019t had more than five minutes of peace and quiet since Reagan was elected the first time. But man, I guarantee if this were on the market back in the 80\u2019s my parents would not have thought that this was an odd patent, to the contrary, they would have thought this was an invention worth buying as many shares of stock in as they could have afforded.<\/p>\n

\"deodorizer\"<\/a>Last, but certainly not least, I\u2019ll be me, you be you, just play along:\u00a0 Me: knock knock!\u00a0 You: \u00a0Who\u2019s there? Me: Orange! You: Orange who? Me: Orange you glad I just set up a patent related to flatulence with a knock knock joke?! Insert laughing emoji. Yes, that just happened. Well, I had to break the ice somehow, or should I say I had to break the wind? Ha. Ha. But seriously, US 6313371 B1 is all about cutting the cheese. Ok, ok, I\u2019ll stop but \u201cFlatulence Deodorizer\u201d consists of \u201ca pad to be worn by a user for absorbing gas due to flatulence. The pad is constructed of activated charcoal cloth disposed between a pair of laminations or layers having multiple perforations therein. The method of use of the present invention is also simple. The pad is non-intrusively taped inside briefs or panties.\u201d Now c\u2019mon\u2026we all know a person that we would give this to at some point\u2026just sayin.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"ear<\/a>I think by now you get my point, patents are cool. Patent law is neat. Patents can save lives. Underlying technology can be incredibly useful, profitable, and practical. But there is another darker, more rogue side to intellectual property: the outsiders, the Slim Shadies and Pony-boy Curtises of patents, if you will. But don\u2019t discount these bad boys, give them a chance. Read them, laugh at them, but whatever you do, don\u2019t turn your back on them because it\u2019s the pariahs like \u201cAnimal Ear Protectors\u201d (US 4233942) that make patent law totally awesome, dude.<\/p>\n

\"Victoria\"<\/a>***This blog is dedicated to my friend and inspiration, Victoria R. Zellmer, PhD. Candidate at the University of Notre Dame, who is working tirelessly in the Harper Cancer Research Institute to cure cancer. Science and law are cool, yo!\u00a0 Rock on girl!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A (silly) post from our student blogger Megan Hey, readers (aka mom and dad), let\u2019s geek out and talk about strange patents! So it just occurred to me that there are about a bajillion weirdo patents out there and nobody … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29602],"tags":[29604,29581,49331,29575,29592],"class_list":["post-1106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student-blog-posts","tag-intellectual-property","tag-ip","tag-mspl-student","tag-patent","tag-patent-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1112,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1106\/revisions\/1112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/patentlaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}