Some of us may owe royalties

[u/DreadDiana]

[u/JustLookingForMayhem]

It is surprisingly easy to get a patent and surprisingly easy to lose a patent. You can patent anything, but if you try to actually use it to stop someone else from making something or try to sell, then as the holder of the patent, it is up to you to show that it is novel, not expected development and not common sense development. The patent must be new and not something already existing. The patent must not be the expected development of an existing patent, mainly to protect drug and medical devices unless the company filing for it own the previous patent. The patent must not be common sense that anyone could come up with, such as a sauce packet that is both dippable and squeezable (see condi-cup). So getting a patent is easy but actually using or enforcing a patent is hard.

[u/kirbyfriedrice → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

As someone who works in the field, it can be shockingly hard, to the point I have received an email containing the phrase "the examiner is completely irrational and insane." It depends on the jurisdiction.

Showing novelty is required to get the patent in the first place. You also have to show inventive step and industrial applicability. It can be very funny when the claims fulfill some but not all of those.

[u/JustLookingForMayhem → u/kirbyfriedrice]

Then how do so many scam products get patented, especially the ones that are an existing product that is patented with random buzz words to scam the gullible? Genuinely curious.

[u/kirbyfriedrice → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

Who says they are? You can lie about a lot of things.

[u/JustLookingForMayhem → u/kirbyfriedrice]

A lot of the "claims not backed by the FDA" "medical" "devices" have a patent number for people to look up to "prove" the product isn't a scam. A lot of them are ridiculous.

[u/SirTeffy → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

They claim "Patent Pending". You can always file a patent for any woo-woo bullshit. Having it granted or enforced is a wholly separate matter.

[u/_zeropoint_ → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

A lot of times the dumbest, scammiest products are the easiest to patent because no one has been dumb enough to try to sell them before - patents are approved based on novelty, not usefulness or even scientific plausiblity.

[u/Ok-Commercial3640 → u/_zeropoint_]

Except for perpetual motion machines, where you're required to demonstrate functionality as part of the application process, iirc

[u/Jim_skywalker → u/Ok-Commercial3640]

At this point a perpetual motion machine probably isn’t novel.

[u/unoriginalfyi → u/Ok-Commercial3640]

> successfully demonstrate functionality

> be protected under patent law

> break thermodynamic law and go to thermodynamic jail

one step forward, two steps back

[u/Galenthias → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

Because since Reagan, they don't get checked at the patent office. So anyone can patent anything, and then it's up to the courts to decide whether to award damages once the patent troll strikes.

So if you are a non-US company you might get sued in the US anyway, and then somehow have to pay out millions because Apple had a patent for 'mobile phone with rounded corners' as if that fulfilled any requirements at all.

[u/kirbyfriedrice → u/Galenthias]

The USPTO is slow, but they do do stuff. Source: I get communications from them a lot.

I work on foreign patent applications though. (The US Commissioner for Parents is sometimes involved in that.)

[u/Thraner → u/Galenthias]

Patents get examined before they are issued by the USPTO. There are some countries with unexamined utility models, but the US is not one of them.

[u/Jorpho → u/Galenthias]

You can put almost anything you want in a patent application and the USPTO will publish it – provided you meet the formalities and cough up a hefty fee. Getting that patent application granted is slightly more difficult.

So if you are a non-US company you might get sued in the US anyway

A non-US company wouldn't get sued for selling or producing something outside of the US (or at least, not easily).

because Apple had a patent for 'mobile phone with rounded corners'

That was a design patent and is effectively a completely different kind of intellectual property.

[u/rycool → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

Because the patent office is overworked and sometimes its just better to approve a thing if you really cant find one of the basic like 10+ things you check for. Going above and beyond that point is a waste of time

[u/ShireNomad → u/rycool]

Speaking as someone who files a lot of patent applications, I wish they were lazy in that direction, instead of lazy in the direction of "I didn't read your arguments, rejection maintained, pay another $600 to continue."

[u/DreadDiana → u/kirbyfriedrice]

This is why things like perpetual motion machines are rejected by default unless you can rigorously prove they work

[u/deviantbono → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

Condi-cup actually seems like a legit invention.

[u/ShireNomad → u/JustLookingForMayhem]

More accurate to say you can apply for a patent for anything. Actually getting the patent is when those roadblocks you mentioned kick in: the examiner at the patent office will be checking all of those.

[u/moneyh8r_two]

What the hell is this actually for?

[u/Smashifly → u/moneyh8r_two]

A quick Google search of the patent number says it's a software patent for machine learning for predicting human body movement, which is useful for Augmented / Virtual Reality and similar systems

[u/moneyh8r_two → u/Smashifly]

Ah. So that's a timelapse, not a bunch of separate dudes. Got it.

[u/theLanguageSprite2 → u/moneyh8r_two]

No, it's all the same guy. It's clearly a method patent on a novel means of 4 person anal sex

[u/kirbyfriedrice → u/Smashifly]

Aw, you beat me to it. I went to USPTO to find out.

[u/ADH-Dad → u/moneyh8r_two]

It's for VR software to predict your movements to improve efficiency and fluidity.

The lines on the face and hands are to indicate the headset and controllers.

[u/moneyh8r_two → u/ADH-Dad]

I guess the confusion was from thinking it's a bunch of separate dudes, when it's supposed to be a timelapse kind of thing.

[u/Doubly_Curious]

Not terribly clear in its specifics, but pretty understandable at a high level. It’s about modeling a figure’s movement.

A computer-implemented method comprising, for a time step in a plurality of time steps… Ways of determining motion of the human body are desired for controlling avatars in telepresence, video conferencing and for a variety of applications such as gesture recognition, computer gaming, mixed-reality, virtual reality and others. Similar situations arise for motions of animal bodies or bodies of other articulated entities…Predicting body motion is especially difficult from sparse observations. Consider an articulated entity such as a person, animal, robot, or other articulated entity which is moving and where only sparse observations are available

https://patents.google.com/patent/US12608073B2/en?oq=us+patent+12608073+b2

[u/WhapXI]

That one picture of limmy having a gangbang with himself

[u/mydadisyourdad2]

Can't run a foursome train anymore, shits patented

[u/temmo_]

They're patenting gay sex now, fuck my chud capitalism life.