Can You Patent Purchasing Underwater Options?
from the but-why? dept
The latest in bizarre patent applications is a business model patent being applied for by JP Morgan for the concept of buying underwater stock options. How is this patentable? That's unclear, but the folks at JP Morgan think they've hit onto something. They think that many companies trying to help employees get rid of underwater options may sell them to Morgan - following Microsoft's lead (where Microsoft let employees switch over from stock options to restricted stock). Of course, now that the economy is starting to pick up again, companies (and their employees) may be more interested in holding on to their options. Either way, it doesn't explain how making a risky investment is patentable. It's certainly not an original idea. I remember discussing just such a business model with some people in 1998 - when we knew a few people who had left jobs where their options were underwater, and who had no interest in buying them. Of course, we realized that the risk of buying underwater options on a regular basis meant that it could be quite difficult to ever actually make any money - but the folks at JP Morgan are betting the market is turning around and are hoping to buy up now before anyone realizes it.
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
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]