“Obscure Company Claims It Just Patented Podcasting”

by Walter Olson on July 31, 2009

More details from Chris Albrecht at NewTeeVee and Jesse Walker at Reason “Hit and Run”.

{ 7 comments }

1 Richard Nieporent 07.31.09 at 7:03 am

I realize that you can’t expect patent examiners to all be Einsteins, but it would help if they stopped hiring morons. Does the term prior art mean anything to these patent examiners? I guess the patent examiner was too busy listening to his iPod to realize that someone had already invented Podcasting.

2 VMS 07.31.09 at 8:32 am
3 Kurt 07.31.09 at 6:52 pm

VMS,
Are you saying perpetual motion machines don’t work. That the laws of physics are wrong?
:-P

4 Bill H 07.31.09 at 9:07 pm

Anyone remember what the Selden patent was and how it was gamed- for a time- to George Selden’s advantage?

5 Robert 08.01.09 at 9:55 am

@billH. The only people who could remember the Selden patent were alive in 1895….

6 Bill H 08.01.09 at 6:45 pm

Smartypants… :)

7 Dirk D 08.01.09 at 8:38 pm

FYI

If one looks at the claims (not to mention the priority date) rather than the press release before criticizing the examiner, you’ll see the article is a bit misleading.

A quick read of the broadest claim indicates that this patent covers a fairly narrow method of providing access to podcasts rather than “podcasting.” There was significant prior art and the claim is really thin. The company is likely overreaching.

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