Greg Aharonian鈥檚 Internet Patent News Service has just announced its
unofficial awards for the worst software patents issued in 1998. Aharonian lists
20 unjustified monopolies granted by the US Patent Office on fixes for the
millennium bug and accuses the official examiners of 鈥済ross failure鈥 in not
warning the public of prior publications that could invalidate the patents. The
USPO missed a 1984 article in Computer World, another published by IBM鈥檚
Systems Journal in 1986 and a third in IBM鈥檚 Technical Disclosure
Bulletin in 1991. These suggested date formats to avoid year 2000 roll-over
problems, which inventors are patenting as new.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Technology
AI could offer a shortcut for designing more efficient airplane wings
News
Technology
Feeding our books into generative AI risks creating a cultural void
91色情片
Technology
Quantum computing may be facing a replication crisis
News
Technology
Rogue hacking AIs have changed the cybersecurity landscape
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles