Time To Redesign The Hotdog... But Watch Out For Patents
from the can-someone-patent-a-bun-that-doesn't-fall-apart? dept
You may have heard the stories that went around recently suggesting that hot dogs need to be redesigned because they're "potentially lethal to small children." Yikes. Reader Michael Bazelewick sent this in while noting that he'd heard this for years -- and even back in the 80's he had a solution: hollowing out the hotdogs with a 4" kitchen corer -- and his daughter cutely nicknamed the resulting product "hole dogs." So when he heard about this new pediatric warning, he went looking to see if any of the hotdog makers were offering pre-hollowed dogs -- and instead discovered that in 2006 someone had applied for a patent on hollow hot dogs. Seriously. It's still an application, but the fact that it hasn't been thrown out yet is pretty scary (Update: As was, snidely, pointed out in the comments, the patent was considered "abandoned" last month after a failure to respond to the USPTO -- but still, that means it took years before the application was rejected, and even then the rejection is only for abandonment, not entirely due to the (lack of) merits). So, by all means, go ahead and redesign the hotdog -- but please don't patent 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.
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I'm going to patent my new invention!!
The hot dog can then be split into two sections that are each covered with mustard, relish, or other condiments.
The hot dog and condiments are then enclosed within the bun and eaten.
The smaller section of the hot dog as is less likely to cause choking.
I will enforce my patent rigorously.
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Re: I'm going to patent my new invention!!
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PRIOR art
and why not reinvent a hammer so we can gouge the construction workers and thus bilk home buyers for more cash
HEY why not do real stupid patents like the toothbrush that talks to you. LOL.
a method to inform a person to sanitize and clean the oral area of a humans mouth.
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Seriously?
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Re: Seriously?
Besides, can you just imagine the stupid commercials?
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Re: Re: Seriously?
I'd like to take a moment to offer extremely innexpensive deep-throating lessons to all the ladies of the world...
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Re: Re: Re: Seriously?
Oh snap!
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Seriously?
God I both love and hate being Irish....
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Yes. Seriously
The circular shape of a hot dog is exactly the right size to plug up a child's esophogus.
However, it does not take a new design to avoid the problem.
Just cutting the hot dog into vertical halfs and then quarters is enough to avoid the problem.
If you want to check it out, slip a circular piece of hot dog into your 3-year-olds mouth and then watch if he turns blue.
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Re: Yes. Seriously
Feeding a kid hot dogs turns the into the Na'vi?
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Re: Re: Yes. Seriously
"See? You CAN be a Na'vi!"
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Re: Yes. Seriously
Perhaps its just natural selection at work...
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None of yours ever choked?
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Other dangerous foods
Nuts, Seeds, Popcorn, Snack chips and puffs, Pretzels, Raw carrots, Raisins and other small dried fruit such as cranberries, blueberries, and cherries, Whole grapes, Fresh or frozen blueberries, Melon balls, Marshmallows, Large chunks of meat, poultry, and hot dogs, Peanut butter and other nut butters, Hard candy and cough drops, Chewing gum, Jellybeans, Gumdrops and other soft jelly candies, Gummy bears and other hard jelly candies
Source: http://life.familyeducation.com/page/39382.html
So basically, children should eat paste, as long at it is not a nut butter paste, or perhaps be fed via IV?
Perhaps it's not the foods that are dangerous but the lack of parental involvement during eating. If you are with your child and you teach them how to eat solid food properly and observe their progress, they will probably survive the dangerous ritual called dinner.
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Next: knives redesigned without pesky sharp edges
Guess what? Grapes are even better for choking, as spheres don't require a specific orientation to plug a trachea. Let's genetically modify them bitches to grow in an annular shape.
Dumbass patents are one thing. Rampant dumbassery in the general public is another, and I dare say, is enabling greater heights/depths of patent and other dumbassery.
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Re: Next: knives redesigned without pesky sharp edges
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I hope they do redesign the dog...
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Re:
You... you MONSTER¡
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Hollow dogs have been done before
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Application is dead...
For those who want to double-check their facts before denouncing all patents, please check out Public PAIR from the USPTO. The facts that the attorney for the patent application in question had his telephone number disconnected, AND that the patent application had been issued a non-final rejection, are public information.
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From the it-ain't-an-application Department
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And the system worked!
Which brings up another point. Just for the sake of argument, let us say that this person got their patent on the hollow hot dog. Who cares? Would the patent have actually stopped anyone from doing anything? The answer has to be no since the hollow hot dog could have been innovated at any point within the last four or five decades and there was zero interest in innovating a hollow hot dog.
You would think that Mike would have better things to talk about than an abandoned patent application for a product that no one wants.
*sigh*
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Re:
I agree. AND legalize abortion and and euthanasia. Whatever keeps the highways moving....
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Re:
In other words, this news is already old.
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they only way you can choke on Those is if you don't bite through the skin properly, and if you've got that issue it's still attached to the solid part in your mouth, which you can reach in and pull on to clear the blockage... without making yourself puke. and that situation almost never shows up in the first place, and certainly not with small children, because the things are too big to swallow without chewing.
not that sausage is a good idea health-wise anyway... it's as bad as spam. possibly worse. how much of the meat in a sausage is actually meat rather than fat, breadcrumbs, and soy? well, if you go to an actual butcher who's any good, a fair amount. all of it if they're particularly good. buy it from a supermarket all nicely packaged up? very little indeed.
so, yeah, this all goes to show that a) the US patent office is lame, and b) sausages are evil.
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Someone forgot...
When I was a kid we used to eat hotdogs every week and somehow managed to survive.
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about the hot dog
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Redesigning the Hot Dog bread
Method and apparatus for GEOMETRIC FIGURE NEW Hot Dog bread, which solved problems in their production, use, and when consuming the Hot Dog.
Request more information
Nuevo concepto de diseño del Know- How para producir
"contenedor comestible" PAN ACANALADO (AHUECADO) para PERRO CALIENTE, (Hot Dog Buns cupped)
Listo para ser llenado, además de ser homogéneo en sus otras características físicas y organolépticas
Características Principales.
Moderno diseño industrial e integral, que incluye elegante y ecológico empaque multipropósito, para la obtención del producto científicamente suave y FUERTE
Ud. También puede participar de los grandes beneficios de la ECONOMIA DEL CONOCIMIENTO. Mayor información e imágenes del sistema, pueden encontrar en:
Www. Panificacion. Es
--
Francisco José Rodríguez Valero
Celular: +(57) 315 575 4078
Www. Youtube.com/watch? V=kSNjdilvXAg
Www. Safecreative.org/user/0712050034668
*www.panificacion.es*
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this type of hot dog bun was popular in the 1950s
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