Stupid Patent of the Month: Mega-Troll Intellectual Ventures Hits Florist--

[eridani]

--With Do-It-On-A-Computer Scheduling Patent

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/03/stupid-patent-month-mega-troll-intellectual-ventures-hits-florist-do-it-computer

When it comes to patent trolls, no one is bigger than Intellectual Ventures. The Washington State-based behemoth is at the center of both patent trolling and the debate around patent reform. Though it claims to promote innovation, Intellectual Ventures is behind some of the most outrageous troll campaigns in recent years. Famous for hiding behind thousands of shell companies, it spawned Lodsys, the troll that harassed small app developers, and the Oasis Research litigation featured in This American Life.

This month, Intellectual Ventures filed some fresh lawsuits against targets including JCPenney, Sally Beauty, and flower delivery service Florists’ Transworld Delivery. We checked out the asserted patents to see if any deserved our Stupid Patent of the Month award. All were worthy candidates, but one in particular stood out.

Before we get to the patent, here’s a short script:

DISPATCHER: Hey, is your crew available?

ROSIE: Yep.

DISPATCHER: We need you to head over to Jimmie’s place and fix his problem.

ROSIE: Okay.

DISPATCHER: This is Rosie, right?

ROSIE: Yep.

DISPATCHER: Great. The job has been assigned to you.

This script will probably not win an Academy Award for screenwriting. But how about a patent? As silly as this question may sound, by suggesting implementing this kind of basic crew management using an “enterprise computing system,” a company called ABB, Inc. was able to get a patent. In 2003, the Patent Office issued U.S. Patent 6,633,900 titled “Mobile Crew Management System For Distributing Work Order Assignments To Mobile Field Crew Units” (the ’900 Patent). Intellectual Ventures acquired it in mid-2015.

[DetlefK]

1. To file a patent, you have to prove that it's different from things that are already in use.

To file a patent, you have to prove that you developed this thing or method by performing an inventive step. You have to prove that it's different from things that are already in use.

In their patent-application, ABB Inc. would have to prove that this method isn't already known and used by others.

There is no way this went about without bribe or gross incompetence.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. Our patent office is a joke these days.

It needs a good purge, and probably half or more of the patents filed over the last couple of decades need revoked. Design a new 'thing', get a patent, all is well. Patent 'the act of doing something using some new technology', irretrievably stupid.