"IBM Files Application to Patent The Patent Process"

From Tom's Hardware:

Reading through IT patents these days requires patience and tolerance. When you can patent common sense, there is clearly something wrong with the system. But as long as no changes are being made, you are inviting people to exploit what is available and IBM has just demonstrated what may be possible, if one of their most recent patent applications is accepted by the USPTO.

The company felt it would be beneficial to patent the patent strategy process all the way from training inventors, to competitor monitoring and protecting (i.e. suing someone) a patent from infringement. This patent does not describe anything new, but a strategy that is being pursued by anyone who owns a patent and especially patent trolls or people like Paul Allen, who is just taking another shot at suing Google for patent infringement.

The patent application could mean that IBM in fact is working on a software that automates patent management or the company simply felt it was necessary to patent the idea of filing a patent and treating it in the way it could be considered common sense. It is especially revealing how much focus the inventor put on a "defend" module that implies a lawsuit strategy. It would take a genius to figure that out....MORE 

HT: Value Walk