[Patents] IBM toilet reservation patent

[phm@a2e.de (PILCH Hartmut)]

The US Patent Office has, on 2001-12-11, granted IBM a patent on the
principle of reserving a restroom and receiving a signal that it has
become available.

Although the USPTO has recently hired a lot of specialised software
examiners and raised the rejection rate in business software patents from
1/2 to 2/3 (while the EPO has at the same time been shortening the time
afforded for examining each patent), some evidently very funny patents
still get through.

http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US06329919__

    U.S. Patent 6,329,919
    System and method for providing reservations for restroom use
    IBM (filed Aug. 2000, issued Dec. 11 2001)
...

    What is claimed is:

    1. A method of providing reservations for restroom use, comprising:

        receiving a reservation request from a user; and

        notifying the user when the restroom is available for his or
        her use.

    2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising assigning a
    reservation number in response to the request.

    ... (8 further independent claims)

If the patent gets issued at the EPO, an extra independent claim should be
added:

    10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an option to
        order a roll of toilet paper with the following printed on it

        (1) art 52 EPC
        (2) a portrait of emperor Caligula
        (3) the words "pecunia non olet"

-- 
Hartmut Pilch                                          http://phm.ffii.org/
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
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