Have you ever thought of punching a hole in a bookmark and tying a piece of decorative yarn to it–then thought, hey, why not add a bead? If so, you are infringing on US Patent D410679, “Bookmark with Beaded Tassel”.
My wife has a kitten bookmark with a bead tied to it. I happened to notice the back was stamped “Patent D410679”, and couldn’t imagine what was actually patented. So I looked it up, and sure enough, someone patented a bookmark.
Specifically, it’s a bookmark with a bead. So I suppose of I tie a little figurine, instead, then I don’t owe royalties.
I love the image of the inventory hunched over a desk, tearing out his hair with tools, yarn, paper, and beads scattered about. He’s wracking his brain trying to come up with an idea before an impending deadline. His wife comes up, gives him a gentle massage, picks up a hole punch and casually suggests, “have you tried this, dear?”
The inventory cautiously punches a hole at the top of a rectangular piece of cardboard, stares at it in disbelief, then shouts, “Eureka!”
Maybe there’s more to the world of bookmarks than I thought. Perhaps the “marker device” industry is just as treacherous as the software industry, with the giants constantly suing each other and buying up all the little guys.
Somebody had to be the first to think of everything we use. As Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) pointed out, somebody had to be the first to look at a cow, see the udder, and think, hey, wouldn’t it be something to yank on these things and drink what comes out?
And then there are the things we take for granted, like the little “ON” label on a light switch. Three-way light switches don’t have them, though, because their state depends on the other switch. If only there was some other way to tell if a light switch was turned on–like, maybe, some kind of indication lamp that illuminates when the circuit is closed.
Here are some other ideas that have been claimed (and I can only assume vigorously defended in the courts)
I’m disappointed to find out that patent #1 wasn’t a time machine.
