Re:Lemelson and the bar code (Score 1)

Not only that, Lemelson made this system famous. We call them "submarine patents" in the biz (that is the biz of defending ourselves from them). Jerome Lemelson dreamed up a bunch of ideas in the 60s and 70s that couldn't even be built at that time, applied for patents on them, kept them running around in the examination process for 20 years (we call it "patent laches"), and then the patents were finally issued for technologies which had become commonplace in the meantime. The USPTO has recently changed the rules so that instead of the duration of the patent being calculated from the date of issue, it is calculated from the date of application, which should end this, but it has some negative effects as well, if the PTO screws up on their own and keeps it in examination for 10 years you're screwed! Still better than letting another Lemelson screw over everybody though.