Can You Patent Online Fundraising?

from the sense-a-problem? dept

Plenty of people have started to realize that, instead of encouraging innovation, many are using the patent system as a sort of legalized shakedown. Software patents are bad, but business model patents are downright scary. The folks over at the EFF point to one pending patent that tries to patent the process of fund raising online: "A method for conducting a fundraising campaign by an organization or person over a wide-area network, comprising the steps of: hosting a website including a plurality of linked web pages, the website providing information about the fundraising campaign and soliciting potential donors to make a charitable contribution to the fundraising campaign; registering on the website; contacting third parties via email messages soliciting charitable donations; and providing one or more reports, on the website, including information on the status of the fundraising campaign." Where's that guy with the patent on stupid patents?