Interacting With A TV Show Via Mobile Phone Now Patented
from the more-silly-patents dept
Well, at least this one isn't starting in the US, but we have another silly patent that is only going to slow down innovation rather than encourage it. YooMedia, in the UK, has received a patent on any "synchronized interaction between mobile devices and TV", which they take to mean any TV show that lets viewers interact with the show by text message. The patent is also pending in other countries - though, they're not named. YooMedia has made it clear that they intend to go after anyone else who dares to use such an idea without paying them first. Wouldn't any sort of infomercial/home shopping network be perfectly reasonable prior art? What ever happened to the requirement for patents to be on "non-obvious" ideas, anyway?Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Bullying in Silicon Valley
I got a Patent and you don't ...
See how creative my lawyers can get so I can scam ... err I mean skim away your profits ?
Patent laws need to change.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Wireless device. You mean like a radio?
[ link to this | view in thread ]