Patent Pending: Placing a Link to a Gift in an E-Card

I just performed a search on the U.S. Patent Office website using only the word “social”.

Why did I do that? I did it because scanning a number of recently “beta released” social networking websites I was reminded of a concern I expressed several years ago, that the USPTO was granting patents to the evolution of how people relate. Forget “patenting the human genome”.

So, using “social” as my search word I quickly found reference to a patent application that proposed to patent putting a link to a gift in an electronic card or E-card.

I stopped right there. Why? Not because I wanted to take issue with this particular patent but because I was confronted once again with the frightful notion that – as things now stand – “patent” appears to have lost a bit of its luster of true genius.

Let’s say I send you an email with link to an image of a gift I just purchased. Should I patent this process? What if I send you an email with a link to an affiliate website with a gift I want you to purchase. Should I patent this bright idea? How about I send you an e-card with a link to a gift suggestion? Patentable? Flash of genius, right?

If there weren’t so many patents pending or registered that might spring from the bushes like a thief in the night – in other words totally unexpected but nonetheless threatening patents – such patents might be funny. Indeed, what would be funny would be a section of the USPTO website entitled “Patent Applications – For Entertainment Purposes Only”, where ridiculous patent applications would be put on display. What would be needed for this would likely be an Act of Congress.

Patent reform is pending. I have a hunch that it won’t fix the problem of the dwindling of true inventive genius in this country.