An insanely stupid patent for building a snowman shows how broken the system is

To a point I can understand the need for patents but unfortunately they have so deviated from their original intention that the idea of patents has become irrevocably broken and a laughing stock of the world.

We have seen plenty of stupid ideas being patented , especially in the world of tech where the idea of prior art doesn’t seem to exist, but this folks has to rank right up there with the stupidest of them all.

I present to you Patent #8,011,991 – Apparatus for the facilitating the construction of a snow man/woman.

No, I’m not joking. This doofus actually applied for and got a patent for building a freaking snowman. A. Snowman.

In his patent application Ignacio Marc Asperas, an inventor from Melville NY, says a lot of rather cutesy things about the wonderment of snowman and his bewilderment about as to why no one had thought of a better way to build snowmen, and of course apply for a patent on the idea.

Here is one of the points used to validate the reason he should get the patent.

1. A building component apparatus for facilitating a construction of a snow man/woman, comprising: a spherically-shaped body that provides an interior structure of the snow man/woman that has an outer surface and an interior, the interior substantially lighter than when the interior is filled with snow; an adhesion surface provided on the outer surface of the spherically-shaped body that substantially increases the ability of the outer surface to adhere snow to the spherically-shaped body; wherein, the spherically-shaped body and adhesion surface form a building component for facilitating the construction of the snow man/woman; and a generator that generates an electric charge, the electric charge coupled to the outer surface.

via Techdirt

I really wish I was joking. Sigh.