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That strange, dysfunctional patent: what shall we call it?

By Johanna Gibson, David Pearce, Jeremy Phillips and Ilanah Simon.

Looking for a 'tasteful' image, we found this

Last week the IPKat called for readers to nominate, then vote for, the most appropriate name for the patent that would cover only a number of cooperating EU Member States (see earlier post here for a bit of background).

Frustratingly, the poll has simply disappeared and all attempts to retrieve it via Website Toolbox have failed.  Anyway, when the Kat last checked, fairly late last night, some 217 votes had been cast.  Far and away the most popular name for the new part-patent, among readers of this weblog at any rate, was the Community Restricted-Area Patent, presumably not merely because of its highly apt description but because of its even more apt acronym, CRAP.  The Community Restricted-Area Patent received 94 votes, about three times as many as the next most popular.

Says the IPKat, this is one of the greatest tests of democracy which the European Union has faced: if the people vote for CRAP, will they get it?  Says Merpel, according to some opinions, this is no question: it has sometimes been suggested the European Union delivers CRAP whether people vote for it or not.

A versatile word: CRAP as a surname, an acronym and an place name.  In the plural: a patented game played with cards and dice, as well as an unpatented one.


STOP PRESS: the Website Toolbox has roared back into action and the final results of the survey look like this:

The EU is contemplating a Community patent that only
covers part of the Community. What should it be called?

Full post as published by IPKat on December 22, 2010 (boomark / email).