IBM’s laughable patent
By Pulkit Sharma

Most successful technology companies do not only rely on their great products, services, prices and market power.  They try to patent anything that may make them money or block out competitors.  And sometimes this attempt to patent everything leads to farcical situations.

Tech giant IBM has done quite well in the second quarter of 2009.  It has cash reserves of $12.5 billion and in this quarter the net income was $3.1 billion - up 12 percent.

Techdirt is reporting that ‘IBM Wants Patent On Conference Call Laugh Tracks’

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The first known use of a recorded laugh track is said to be in 1950, when the producers of the Hank McCune Show added canned laughter after the show's taping. Almost 60 years later, IBM says it deserves a patent for 'inventing' adding canned laughter to conference calls. 'A pre-selected stored sound (e.g., an interjection such as a laugh) may be generated if there is a period of silence on one of the telephone lines that exceeds a threshold,' explains Big Blue in its just-published patent application for Enlivening Conference Calls to Make Conference Calls More Interesting for Participants. Eureka!
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Even as people chuckle over this silly patent, the big tech companies are laughing all the way to the bank.