Ridiculous Patent: Serving Cereal

Cereality, a specialized restaurant, holds a patent on “methods and system” of selling cereal, including “displaying and mixing competitively branded food products” and adding “a third portion of liquid.” It turns out that at about the same time that Cereality was opening its first store in Arizona, the same idea struck another innovator in Florida, who opened up 'Bowls.' But since Cereality holds the patent, Bowls might be forced to shut down, or at least stop 'infringing' on Cereality's patent claims, by, for example, selling pizza instead of cereal.

if the public doesn’t start agitating for reform, Americans are going to find themselves increasingly at the whim of the large corporations who own the ideas that form the foundation of the American economy.

Previously:

• Striking Down Business Method Patents
• Twin Problems