# Omigod! I have a Patent! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053 "2002-11-16T18:43:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/1 "2002-11-16T18:43:02Z")
I was going through the junk mail, and almost threw out a flyer from someone trying to sell Patent services. Then I noticed that it had my name and patent number on it (!!!) I’ve mentioned that my name was on a patent before, but this is a brand spanking new patent, and I am the sole inventor. And I learn about it from someone trying to sell me stuff. I’d filed for this two years go, at my previous employers. I thought it had sort of died, and that they had no interest in seeing it through, as I was no longer there. But these things grind along, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/2 "2002-11-16T19:05:13Z")
Link? Description of patent? Don’t leave us hanging. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/3 "2002-11-17T00:09:50Z")
U.S. Patent #6,480,268, granted Nov. 12, 2002. “Method for Temporary Suppession of Reflection for Optical Measurement”: [http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ft00&s1=6480268.WKU.&OS=PN/6480268&RS=PN/6480268](http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ft00&s1=6480268.WKU.&OS=PN/6480268&RS=PN/6480268) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/4 "2002-11-17T00:13:42Z")
Congratulations. My brother-in-law works in the patent office. (he does a **lot** of reading.) ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/5 "2002-11-17T00:25:40Z")
That’s very cool, CalMeachem. Congrats. It’s one of my goals to one day have a patent on something. But seeing as how the most inventive things I create are sand paintings, I doubt that’s really ever going to happen. Ah well. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/6 "2002-11-17T00:55:16Z")
**Cal** , comgratulations. You are the man. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/7 "2002-11-17T00:57:23Z")
And I am not. Because, of course, the man can splel. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/8 "2002-11-17T01:15:24Z")
Now you can finally build that interoceter. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/9 "2002-11-17T01:18:54Z")
Why don’t you sell it to TV stations to temporarily reduce reflection off eyeglasses while a guest or anchor is on camera. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/10 "2002-11-17T01:43:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Now you can finally build that interoceter. . Damn straight. You have no idea what a problem front-surface reflection is with those triangular screens. What still kills me about this whole episode is that th damned _government_ doesn’t tell me about this at all – I have to learn about it from a huckster trying o sell me a framed copy of my patent front page. Of course, I learned that my book got published in a similar way – it got listed on Amazon as soon as it got assigned an SBN number. Nobody told me that this had happened, of curse. I learned that I got an ISBN number when I saw my book suddenly pop up at Amazon _before_ it was published. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/11 "2002-11-17T04:43:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*. > > Damn straight. You have no idea what a problem front-surface reflection is with those triangular screens. > What still kills me about this whole episode is that th damned _government_ doesn’t tell me about this at all – I have to learn about it from a huckster trying o sell me a framed copy of my patent front page. > > Of course, I learned that my book got published in a similar way – it got listed on Amazon as soon as it got assigned an SBN number. Nobody told me that this had happened, of curse. I learned that I got an ISBN number when I saw my book suddenly pop up at Amazon _before_ it was published. \*\* Wow! It’s a good thing the same thing didn’t happen with that Nobel Prize I saw you won a few years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/2bfe46/32.png) [@Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xavier)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omigod-i-have-a-patent/137053/12 "2002-11-17T19:44:44Z")
Clever li’l weaver/beaver. I take my hat off sir, and smack you with it. But now you are one of them. The “better” people now. You have been warned.