This invention provides a device for protecting the ears of animals, especially long-haired dogs, from becoming soiled by the animal's food while the animal is eating. And it looks like this:
Will you ever ask yourself, "Is this a reasonable concern that I do not want to have food in my dog's ears?" I mean, maybe as a dog lover, I do sometimes if I don't want my pet get super messy. But do I honestly want the discomfort that my dog has to suffer through in order to be neat? And is this even pretty or at least presentable to the public? Not so much.
Now let's run through the test for validity of this patent.
1. Novel:
To be fair, it is novel that no existing patents is anything like this one.
2. Non-obvious:
Yes, it is non-obvious, simply because I think nobody else would ever bother to even think about having stuff over dogs' ears.
3. Useful:
Is it useful? Maybe and maybe not. But useful does not necessarily mean commercially viable. I doubt a dog owner would want to have his dog have this on and this might just torture the dog in many ways.
Let me know what you think.
Definitely an interesting patent. I'm curious to know how the inventor plans on marketing this product. It's definitely not something that's necessary and, like you said, something that I wouldn't want my dog to have to wear while eating. Even though the patent is for a ridiculous product, it still meets all the criteria for a patent, so it has to be issued. I'm surprised that no one else thought of this before 1980, as dogs have been around for quite a long time and I'm sure many people have issues with their dog's ears getting dirty while eating.
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