[Zope] IBM Patents Web Page Templates

Richard Jones richard@bizarsoftware.com.au
Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:27:57 +1000


On Wednesday 17 October 2001 18:47, Andrew Kenneth Milton wrote:
> +-------[ Jerome Alet ]----------------------
>
> | On Wed, 17 Oct 2001, Andrew Kenneth Milton wrote:
> | > There are some bizarre unenforcable patents out there if you look hard
> | > enough.
> |
> | The fact is that patent offices, particularly in the US and AU are just
> | plain stupid or very money hungry.
> |
> | IIRC an oz patented the wheel last year !
>
> Now that's just creative! d8)

Someone here recently got a copyright on a huge set of the possible melodies 
produced by a touch-tone telephone. Most of them just happen to correspond to 
phone numbers. The theory is that you can buy your phone number's melody from 
them for a trivial fee, and then sue someone for copyright infringement when 
they "play" your melody without your prior consent (ie. cold-calling 
marketing companies :)


    Richard