IPDuck: Patent of the Day

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Patent of the Day

With the passage of the Patent Reform Act, there will be lots of talk about creating jobs and so forth. Doubtless a new patent this week, "Apparatus for facilitating the construction of a snow man/woman," U.S. Patent No. 8,011,991, will create many of those new jobs. Update: Techdirt likes this patent almost as much as I do.

1 comment:

patent litigationSeptember 12, 2011 at 6:23 PM
Yes, I'm not sure of the basis for recent claims by politicians that this patent reform bill will create "200,000 new jobs" ... unless those jobs are for lawyers.
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Why a Duck?

The "IP" part of this blog's title is self-explanatory -- the abbreviation for the shorthand term "intellectual property." But what to call the humor part of the name? It turns out that the duck is the funniest animal alive. A 2002 study confirms that jokes mentioning ducks are funnier than others.

If you think about it, that makes sense. Think of the funniest joke you know, and replace one of the characters with a duck. It instantly becomes even funnier. You might not even need the punchline. For example, which is funnier:
"A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar . . . "
-- OR --
"A priest, a rabbi, and a duck walk into a bar . . . "

And needless to say, "Weird Al" Yankovic's "I Want a New Duck" is MUCH funnier than Huey Lewis' "I Want a New Drug."