5 ridiculous things people have tried to patent
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The Kiss
Photo by: Photo by Robert Doisneau
The Kiss-
Kissing is an art, but to Harlequin, the publisher of romance novels, it's also a business. So they recently filed a patent to trademark the kiss. Not the word or the depiction, but the actual lip-to-lip process humans do to feel intimacy. Can they do that? They sure can try: The company filed a seven-page request defining the parameters of the type of kissing they'd like to own (the good, romantic kind). In the proposal, they define it as "a method by which two people can reciprocate their romantic feelings towards one another in a manner that deepens attachment, provides pleasure and promotes physical and emotional well-being." Technically, a patent owner could limit usage and charge money for the rights to mouth-to-mouth. But Harlequin publishers assure us if the patent was approved, they'd make the kiss "freely available to all persons everywhere in the interests of enhancing romantic love and generally making the world a better place." Legal experts aren't too worried about that outcome, as it's not likely to get the okay. But if it did, not only would the fate of romance be in question, but so would the legacy of Gene Simmons and the decorative impulses of female college freshmen who pretty much wallpaper their dorm rooms with this Robert Doisneau photograph.
The Kiss-
Kissing is an art, but to Harlequin, the publisher of romance novels, it's also a business. So they recently filed a patent to trademark the kiss. Not the word or the depiction, but the actual lip-to-lip process humans do to feel intimacy. Can they do that? They sure can try: The company filed a seven-page request defining the parameters of the type of kissing they'd like to own (the good, romantic kind). In the proposal, they define it as "a method by which two people can reciprocate their romantic feelings towards one another in a manner that deepens attachment, provides pleasure and promotes physical and emotional well-being." Technically, a patent owner could limit usage and charge money for the rights to mouth-to-mouth. But Harlequin publishers assure us if the patent was approved, they'd make the kiss "freely available to all persons everywhere in the interests of enhancing romantic love and generally making the world a better place." Legal experts aren't too worried about that outcome, as it's not likely to get the okay. But if it did, not only would the fate of romance be in question, but so would the legacy of Gene Simmons and the decorative impulses of female college freshmen who pretty much wallpaper their dorm rooms with this Robert Doisneau photograph.
