More Details On Patenting A Mutual Fund

from the hopefully-this-goes-nowhere dept

Tue, Jun 3rd 2008 3:13pm — Mike Masnick

Last month, we wrote about a troublesome attempt to patent the method of creating a mutual fund. Now it appears that more details are coming out, and it remains rather ridiculous. The guy uses a method based on judging a company's sales, cash flow, book value, and dividends -- which is basically the four key things that pretty much any stock picker is going to look at. Basically, this guy has come up with a method to pick stocks that has been working okay for him (though, there are some questions as to how well it really works), and now he wants to prevent anyone else from being able to pick stocks in the same way. Luckily, his first attempt at a patent was rejected, but that hasn't stopped him from pushing forward with a second attempt to get the patent.

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Filed Under: mutual fund, patents

9 Comments

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yo ho ho...., 3 Jun 2008 @ 3:51pm

Hey.. now here's a novel idea...
I am trying to patent the concept of going to a building filled with perishable and non-perishable food items where other people can come into my establishment and purchase these items from me at a slightly higher price than my cost to acquire these goods.

I can use bigger words to minimize the obviousness ...
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Litle Punk, 3 Jun 2008 @ 5:03pm

I have a patent pending on all methods of saving money.
The process involves spending less than you earn.
I will soon be asking everyone who saves money to license my method.

I am just a little guy trying to make a profit from my invention, but I'm sure that the big evil corporations will steal my idea and not pay me what is rightfully mine.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2008 @ 7:35pm

No money in that idea since nobody spends less than they earn these days!
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MLS, 3 Jun 2008 @ 7:45pm

Patenting Process
I am disappointed that a bunch of people cry "It's obvious" without having even seen what the application discloses and the claims it contains.
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- Chiropetra, 3 Jun 2008 @ 10:36pm
  
  Re: Patenting Process
  Does the phrase "trout in the milk" do anything for you?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2008 @ 5:04pm
    
    Re: Re: Patenting Process
    "trout in the milk"
    
    that's a good one, never had heard of it before
    
    thx
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- dorpass, 4 Jun 2008 @ 1:35am
  
  Re: Patenting Process
  I am disappointed that stupid thoughts like that still pop up.
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- John Wilson, 4 Jun 2008 @ 7:35am
  
  Re: Patenting Process
  I'm dismayed with some who seem to think that patents ought to be granted based on prior art, public domain and obviousness no matter how they're dressed up.
  
  Being in a brand new suit with nice marketing buzz words makes no difference at all. Nor does it matter if the patent applicant is Microsoft or some broker trying to patent a method of making a mutual fund based on things people in his business have been doing for decades.
  
  I understand that in the law the placement of a comma or semi colon can make all the difference. In the real world it doesn't.
  
  Even in the law common sense is supposed to play a role. Unless it's someone who makes his living off some of this silliness.
  
  ttfn
  
  John
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  - MLS, 4 Jun 2008 @ 10:19am
    
    Re: Re: Patenting Process
    I suggest you read up on just how a patent application is prepared and prosecuted before making rants that totally undermine what you have to say.
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