[Patents] IBM toilet reservation patent

[critto@poczta.wp.pl (Krzysztof Sobolewski)]

On Saturday 05 January 2002 07:31, you wrote:
> 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"

Well, and (4):

The big, blue letters "IBM" ;))))
 
Cheerz, 
        Krzysztof "Critto" Sobolewski
        critto@wp.pl, http://www.libertaryzm.prv.pl