SF Signal: Can You Patent a Fictional Storyline?

Can You Patent a Fictional Storyline?

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to get a patent. Or do you?

Andrew Knight, a rocket engine inventor, filed a patent 2 years ago for a fictional storyline. This month's Ansible points to an article about the recent publication of Knight's patent. What's his story?

The fictitious story, which Knight dubs “The Zombie Stare,” tells of an ambitious high school senior, consumed by anticipation of college admission, who prays one night to remain unconscious until receiving his MIT admissions letter. He consciously awakes 30 years later when he finally receives the letter, lost in the mail for so many years, and discovers that, to all external observers, he has lived an apparently normal life. He desperately seeks to regain 30 years’ worth of memories lost as an unconscious philosophical zombie.

I am struck by how expensive this course of action is and that it does not fully protect his product.

It costs a bundle to patent. Plus, if he feels like this is a "popular" story line that others will try to copy, he will need to patent in any country that tries to copy his work to prevent it from being commercially available.

To file a patent, you will need a patent attorney (as well as an "agent" in any foreign jurisdiction you file in). To file a Copyright, you can do it yourself.

On top of that, in about 20 years from filing (give or take a year), the patent will expire. Anybody can then copy the "Zombie" idea however they wish.

Copyright is made for this type of situation and it last for a long time........ just watch Disney keep getting extension in law to save the Mouse.

Posted by Ree-C on Monday November 07, 2005 at 6:49 AM

See there are some other fundamental problems here with this "patent" idea in that it can be marked null and void for pre-existing art. I would be very interested into seeing how much of this story line exists elsewhere. Maybe as a rocket designer he felt that the proper path to protecting his idea, but it just reinforces how screwed up our patent system is to allow this kind of crap....

Posted by Tim on Monday November 07, 2005 at 10:56 AM

Oh and before I forget - SFSignal will be patenting and copyrighting and whatever else we need to do to ensure that we own the concept of "undead time-travelling nazis" and dare I say we may even spread our idea out to include all "undead time-travelling facists". So if you see a story or movie or dare I say made-for-tv special on SciFi network with that theme - we are sooooo gonna own em.

Posted by Tim on Monday November 07, 2005 at 10:59 AM

Tim wait - so are you now saying we've broadened our claim such that a story about Benito Mussolini being bitten by a vampire and then sucked through a portal created by a secret Japanese atomic technology gone awry and goes back to the past to try to kill Winston Churchill's father before he was born would be owned by SFSignal?!?!

Sweet!

Note I see this as a buddy pic, of course - Benito (played by Robert Duvall) would literally land on the character 'Shorty' (played by Chris Rock) and plan the attempt on Lord Randolph Churchill's life (played by Leonardo DiCaprio.) Think "Rush Hour" meets "The Jackal."

Posted by Scott on Monday November 07, 2005 at 8:17 PM

Brilliant work Scott - I think you really captured the essence of the film. Furthermore, I dare say that this tragedy is only missing a key love interest but that interest must be quirky. I am not sure who I would throw in that role, but quirky and hot are our key demographics. I will consult with Pete on the topic and have our top choices prepared for the first day of shooting

Posted by Tim on Monday November 07, 2005 at 10:45 PM

Thanks Pete, and to help continue our domination of the entire Undead time travelling genre - SFSignal would like to publically extend our copyright to encompass Undead Time Travelling Pirates, Undead Time Travelling Ninjas, and Undead Time Travelling 1972 Green Bay Packers. The legal department thanks you for your time and consideration, and would all duly authorized screenwriters may now use these in our upcoming film and tv programming. (this means you Scott )

Posted by Tim on Wednesday November 09, 2005 at 4:25 PM

1972 was a great comeback year for the young Packers. They had gone a terrible 4-8-2 under their first season with their new head coach Dan Devine in '71 and the fans were justifiably restless. In '72 they rebounded nicely though, going 10-4 and finishing atop the NFC Central. While they enjoyed a nice run, they ultimately lost to the Redskins in a 16-3 game at RFK stadium. Unfortunately they couldn't hold on to this success as they dropped back to a dismal 5-7-2 in 1973 and didn't return to the playoffs until 1983.

This single season stands out against an otherwise poor record such that I can only conclude that time travel was involved. Perhaps rookie CB Willie Buchanon had the innate ability and thus was able to turn the season around by zipping into the past to snag the four interception he had that year to lead the team. I suspect until one of us returns to the past to study the team, we'll never know exactly which member of the team possessed the ability.

Of course, if we were to return to 1972, I recommend we study the Miami Dolphins of that year before checking out activity in Green Bay.

It is curious you mention the front office for the team, as little is known about them. One might conclude that members of the front office staff time travelled and that is how the team managed to win 10 that year, but on further reflection I think you'll see how this is clearly silly. Staff with time travel options would clearly work towards unbalanced trades or rediculous contracts rather than try to help the team win during the season.

Posted by Scott on Wednesday November 09, 2005 at 8:30 PM

Thanks for all the wonderful backstory Scott on the now copyrighted Undead Time Travelling 1972 Green Bay Packers, but I was really hoping for a more action packed narrative involving them foiling a plot of the of some nefarious mastermind.

Furthermore, I believe that we should just go all the way out and claim all Undead Time Travellers to be encompased by our literary council. That way we can cover the very dangerous and deadly Undead Time Travelling Viking Pirate Ninjas. Yes they make them Undead Time Travelling Nazi's look like sissies. I would now like to challenge Scott to find some backstory on those Viking Pirate Ninjas darned him

Posted by Tim on Thursday November 10, 2005 at 2:24 PM

It's difficult to come up with fresh narrative involving Undead, Time Travelling, Viking Pirate Ninjas because that ground will be tilled so many times in the future.

But, let's see...

Yashido Sato left his native Japan on a small ship bound for the mainland disguised as a Fuke monk. He was supposed to spy on the Korean's, however the ship never made it. In the dead of night the ship was easily overcome by a band of Vikings who had been blown off course while attempting to raid the French coast. Sato-san was captured and held aboard their ship, the Ivar Jok, until he ultimately joined up with the marauding group.

Several months later, the Ivar Jok came across a Spanish ship bound for India filled with Aztec gold. The crew took the treasure easily, but were forever cursed to live the life of the undead. The whole crew took their immortal status hard, but nobody as hard as "Black Hand" Sato. He took to skulking around the bars and brothels in the towns they dared to visit searching vainly for some way to rid himself of the curse. He finally ran into a strange old man who told him of a curious ritual whereby he could go back in time and prevent the pirates from taking the tained gold.

Sadly, the ritual had unexpected consequences - Sato wasn't able to send the ship into the past, but instead propelled him hundreds of years into the future (and simultaneously sent the USS Nimitz into the waters off fuedal Japan, but that's another story.) Sato then realized his only path to true death was to take control of the ship, reaquire all of the gold, and return it to the Spanish. His attempt fails, sadly, and the film ends with the tragic line:

"Fuke him if he can't take a Jok."

Posted by Scott on Thursday November 10, 2005 at 8:51 PM

Have you we started to patent this storyline yet? We might be able to get a patent on it as a documentary based on actual events in addition to it being a fictious account, because after all, if they grant an anti-gravity vehicle patent, why not an undead nazi/pirate zombie football player story patent?? Let's get this going before the patent office grows a brain!!!

BTW, if you read that anti-grav patent and thinks it's for real, try reading this article (and its referenced link).

Posted by Peter on Saturday November 12, 2005 at 5:55 PM

Ahem, as it has been brought to my attention and to the attention of the SFSignal legal team (who are undead time travelling mutant ninja pirate zombies) that our current copyright must be modified and extended to include any time travelling entities who are undead, zombies, 1972 Green Bay Packers, Ninjas, Pirates, assorted political groups and that the ordering of these adjectives upon the aforementioned groups is still covered by us. Violators of this will be persecuted and will be served au gratin with a nice side of flava beans.

We thank you for your continued support in making Undead time travelling entities a bastion of SFSignal.

Posted by Tim on Tuesday November 15, 2005 at 5:12 PM