Patentable and nonpatentable ideas

[arif]

Patentable and nonpatentable ideas

I've talked about the types of things that can be patented. I think by now it's becoming clear that just about anything can be patented. Of course, I did not say that the idea has to be a good idea. It is not right my to judge what's a good idea. While many ideas are just not going to be considered useful enough to be patentable, there are certainly plenty of bad ideas that are patented. How about these ideas? A 12 gauge golf club, a diaper alarm, beach boots, a fish bath, a toilet timer, a doggie umbrella, or the instant facelift.

You can tell by the titles alone that these are probably off-the-wall ideas, but they are patented. They had utility, they were novel, and they were non-obvious. One of my favorite ideas is the ropeless jump rope. I came up with the idea when I was a new attorney, mostly as a party joke, an example of how I was going to get rich with my invention of the ropeless jump rope. It would be an infomercial product. I would sell millions on the shopping channels. I wasn't the only one with this ingenious idea.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/understanding-patents-a-deeper-dive/patentable-and-nonpatentable-ideas