Current mood:	nauseated
Entry tags:	computer, geek, weird shit

Internet Trolls are at it again.
Most people will agree that the US Patent office is a pile of steaming excrement run by incompetents with less IQ than your average squirrel. Or at least that's the impression their Intellectual Property people give when they approve things like this. It seems they've been training the Patent Office people in Australia as well.

Vuestar technologies, a Singapore company, managed to get a lovely little piece of Patenting approved entitled "Method of locating web-pages by utilising visual images". Their website lists both US and Australian patent information.

So what is it? Glad you asked. This little bit of bull says that Vuestar owns the patent on you linking to another website using an image. So if you blog, or have a website, or maybe even a flickr page, then you're infringing on their intellectual property rights. They would be happy to sell you a licence to allow you to continue, however.

The best bit is from the website FAQ:
Is there any Prior Art?
RN Technologies, Ron Langford the inventor filed the Original Patent in 2000 not in any way relying on or offending any third parties’ prior art. All Patent examiners investigations cleared, R Langford and the VUESTAR Technologies for clean patent registration.

Yeah, because no-one before 2000 ever thought of linking to another webpage by putting a logo up as a focus for the link.

More info here and here.

I can't wait to see this one come crashing down with a legal challenge.