IBM Trying To Patent Cure For Obama's BlackBerry Woes
from the isn't-that-convenient dept
theodp writes "Appearing Thursday on The View, President Obama lamented that his BlackBerry was no fun anymore, noting that only about 10 people had his BlackBerry personal e-mail address. 'I've got to admit it's no fun because they think it's going to be subject to the Presidential Records Act so nobody sends me the juicy stuff,' he ruefully added. Coincidentally, the USPTO disclosed on Thursday that IBM has a patent pending for a Cellular Telephone Using Multiple Accounts, which provides multiple SIM card slots to address the problems faced by 'an elected official [who] may be under legal restraints regarding the nature of calls which may be made from a particular telephone.' Without its invention, explains Big Blue, 'an official may use one telephone for calls in an official government capacity; another for calls to a re-election committee; and another for purely personal use.' IBM ran to the patent office with details of the new 'invention' (image) just days after Obama was told he could keep his BlackBerry for personal use, but would have to use an NSA-approved phone for anything government related."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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Prior art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_SIM#Active_dual-SIM_phones
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Re: Prior art
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If you can have multiple accounts by using multiple Sim cards, the next step would be to put multiple Sim cards in a phone.
I honestly hope this patent is rejected. It's fricken obvious!
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I was carrying around 3 cell phones a while back. I wondered why no one had ever thought of putting multiple cards in the same phone. Its to fricken obvious.
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http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/beyond-e-tech-duet/4505-6454_7-33699725.html
Are they trying to patent something different?
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Who did we elect to set policy, the NSA or Obama? Seriously, why is the NSA telling Obama what he can and can't do, shouldn't it be the other way around?
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Though if you want to complain about unelected officials making policy, I think a much more significant place to start would be the Fed, or any number of "czars" or Cabinet departments that set policy with a complete lack of accountability that should actually be done by Congress (the legislative branch is supposed to make policy, remember - the executive just enforces it)
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Everybody knows the 'Law Makers' and their black dogs are above the law.
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> executive branch, which I'm pretty sure the
> NSA is, then the President is, in fact,
> above them.
This isn't just policy we're talking about. It's law. And Congress makes the laws. And no, the president isn't above Congress.
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Don't you watch NCIS man? Probie/Tim does it all the time
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Re: Law
> he can and can't do, shouldn't it be the
> other way around?
The NSA was merely explaining the law to the president. Even the president has to abide by the law.
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Subject
Yes, that's right. It's about PROFIT and absolutely NOTHING more.
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not sure what IBM's motives are yet...
It seems that that they patent the most bizarre things in what may be an attempt to prove their point that patent law is out of control.
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Dual Sim or not...
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You activate the SIM card to use based on who you want to call.
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Gmail ?
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