Another year... another record by the USPTO in locking up all sorts of ideas with patents. Yes, that's right, it's only early december and it's being reported that the USPTO will set a new record in utility patents, blasting through the old record, set (of course) just last year with 225,000 patents. Remember back in the early days of the patent system, when Thomas Jefferson ran the patent office despite thinking that patents might actually do more harm than good? One of the things he focused on was trying to avoid granting patents willy nilly since "abuse of frivolous patents is likely to cause more inconvenience than is countervail by those really useful." I kinda miss that Patent Office. Oh yeah, when he ran the Patent Office, it granted.. 67 patents over two years.