I have a boring bathroom with not much in it except towels and soap and that kind of thing. But there are inevitably times when you’re just sitting in a bathroom without much to do. So I started reading the package on the toilet paper (“6 BIG rolls!”) that I hadn’t put away yet. (I have no excuse. It was sensory deprivation.)

And this is what I saw in the fine print on the back.

Made under one or more U. S. patents: 5,114,771; 5,143,776; 5,240,562; 5,274,930; 5,328.565; 5,581,906; 5,584,126; 5,584,128; 5,671,897; 5,679,222; 5,728,268; 5,827,384; 5,846,380; 5,855,738; 5,865,396; 5,865,950; 5,942,085; 5,944,945; 5,980,691; 6,036,139; 6,048,938; 6,106,670; 6,126,784; 6,149,769; 6,162,329; 6,187,138; 6,207,734; 6,402,013; 6,464,831; 6,547,928; 6,551,453; 6,572,722; 6,579,416; 6,607,637; 6,755,939; 6,797,117; 6,821,386; 6,845,282; 6,948,378; 7,035,706.

Forty patents on TOILET PAPER?

I think it’s time to admit that current concepts of Intellectual Property are broken beyond human help. It’s high time to flush the whole thing away.

Crossposted to Shakesville

Technorati tags: Intellectual Property, patent, trolls.