Not so Novel Novelty (Score 1)

Something seriously amiss with USA patent law here: I guess the prerequisite of novelty doesn't apply if you have enough money. IBM go and patent a device that can interact with mind waves without physical contact, yet the idea was published more than a decade ago in William Gibson's novel "Neuromancer" & if recollection serves it also got more than a brief mention in his short story collection "Burnt Chrome", including a description of operation via quantum interference effects. Gibson called the device a "SQUID". Can't remember what the "S" stands for but the rest of it is Quantum Interference Device.