No.
It appears, though, that toast may be patentable, especially if what is toasted is a sandwich.
McDonald’s have filed a patent in the US and Europe for “simultaneous toasting of a bread component“. I thought I would have better things to do than to read the whole 55-page document, but I may be tempted. How else would I come across terms like “bread component” and “sandwich delivery tool“?
How else would I learn that “Often the sandwich filling is the source of the name of the sandwich; for example, ham sandwich?” Wow. I shall wait eagerly for the powers-that-be to apply that logic to a hamburger.
Maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t be striving to get the IPR and DRM processes radically changed. Maybe there’s a better way.
Maybe I should come up with a new business plan. Buy up all the rights to the publishing of patents. And start a new journal, publishing them.
In the humour section.
Now if we could convince Hugh Macleod to do the artwork, we could have a 21st century Heath Robinson, with all the raw material coming from the patent filings. Hugh? Anyone else? Borat Sagdiyev maybe?
Thanks to Cory for the tip-off.
That’s hilarious. Or terrifying. I’m not sure which.
But hey, it’s nice to run across someone else using the Modern theme!
Patents, my dear JP, are legacy. How do you deal with legacy ? How do you deal with the legacy of the industrial revolution and some afiled ideas of property ownership applied to intellectual endeavour?
This is funny.
There was the famous case of MacDonald demanding that a Scottish store owner, by the name of MacDonald, change his name. He had a butcher’s shop by the name of MacDonalds – does what it says on the tin – MacDonalds Butchers.
Anyway, he survived to fight another day and MacDonalds – the Golden Arches version – failed in their attempt.