Patent examiners are so overloaded and so many patents are applied for that there is no way to make a proper investigation into whether the claim is valid or not. This has been increasingly true in the past few years and, as a result, the number of frivolous patents that are granted is becoming ridiculous.
An article today in New Scientist tells of a patent that has been granted to a company regarding DRM on 3D printers. Well DUH! This is something that has been discussed time and time again since the beginning of the open-source hardware movement that produced the first 3D printers. To grant a patent on something that has been discussed in such detail and with such controversy for at least five years is like someone allowing a patent on glasses to hold water that can be held to the lips while one drinks!
The entire patent system is fundamentally broken and the grant of a patent confers too many rights for companies toe sue each other. Once again, this does absolutely nothing useful except employ more damned lawyers!
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