Patent Nonsense

Via the Volokh Conspiracy, an interesting new proposal for a patent:

"As many of you know, "patent trolls" are parties that buy up issued patents for the sole purpose of using the patents offensively to collect licensing fees (or, failing that, to sue for infringement) from 3rd parties...

In a new wrinkle, it appears that Halliburton, Inc., has filed a patent application claiming a patent for the process of patent trolling!"

Naturally, of course,

"Halliburton claims that it does not intend to "apply the technique offensively" -- i.e., it's not trying to monopolize the business of patent trolling -- but rather it "intends to use any patent that may issue from this application defensively to discourage entities that engage in such tactics.""

I think they'll find that they aren't the first institution to have the idea that they ought to be have a monopoly in deciding who benefits from the artificial, immoral scarcity of ideas. The patent application should fail, then, because Halliburton have no novel idea of which they were the originators.