Have you ever find yourself in an awkward situation that you are next to someone, close enough for the person to breathe the same air as you do, but you can't help yourself with the desire to fart? Well, now I present you a perfect solution: the flatulence deodorizer!
The name of this patent says everything: the flatulence deodorizer discloses a pad to be worn by a user for absorbing gas due to flatulence. And let me tell you, this is a serious business: it can be purchased at http://www.flat-d.com/. The company has a number of products related to this technology.
Judging from the fact that they have a website up and running, this product, which sounds extremely ridiculous to me, is actually commercializable. Maybe there are people who are willing to wear an adult diaper after all to avoid embarrassing moments.
Now let's run the test of the three criteria for patents:
1. Novel:
I won't argue this point.
2. Non-obvious:
It's probably not as obvious for someone skilled in the prior art to create an adult diaper for deodorizing.
3. Useful:
It is useful, but will people actually be willing to wear them? In my personal opinion, wearing it is more embarrassing than the embarrassment caused from farting in the public itself.
Let me know what you think.
I think it's interesting that one of the diagrams provided was flatulence being emitted at the baggage carousel at an airport. Of all the places where I'd be concerned about being overwhelmed by the odors of flatulence, an airport baggage carousel would probably be one of the last places I would think of. Even though this patent is pretty silly, there's no reason why the USPTO would not issue a patent for the invention. Like you pointed out in your post, it meets all the key requirements for the patent application to be approved. I think an important distinction needs to be made between silly patents and patents which should not have been approved in the first place. The patents that we've been discussing for the past few weeks have no reason for not being approved. I think it'll be harder to look for patents that should not have been issued in the first place as that would require a detailed reading of the claims and some digging to find the prior arts.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a very funny product that I would be very surprised about if it were to become successful. Yet, I do think that it fits all the three criteria a in order to be a patent. The question only is if it is necessary, which is not a factor on whether or not it is patentable. I'm sure the inventor thought it was though and was very pleased with himself!
ReplyDelete