IBM poo-poos who poos patent

IBM has discarded a patent it received on a method for determining who gets to use the toilet next.

Big Blue received a patent for a "system and method for providing reservations for restroom use" in December. But the company later decided to renounce all of its patent claims after a petition was made against it, according to documents released this week by the US Patent & Trademark Office.

IBM's decision to renounce the patent came after patent office director James Rogan ordered a re-examination of the patent.

A spokeswoman for the patent office said: "IBM disclaimed it, so we cancelled the claims in the patent." She could not say whether the patent would have been cancelled anyway if IBM had not requested it.

It is not known who issued the petition or why, but the spokeswoman for the patent office said it is relatively rare for patents to be re-examined once they have been issued. The office granted 187,882 patents in 2001 but received just 296 requests to re-examine individual patents, she said.

Earlier this year IBM launched a cyber-laundry system which enables people to monitor their wash remotely and tells them when machines have become available.

Troy Wolverton writes for News.com