SAP has applied for a patent for a 'foldable device' that would replace "...cell phone, a smartphone, a tablet PC, a laptop, a personal computer, a netbook, a personal digital assistant, an e-book reader, a TV and/or other computing devices..."

http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/27/striving-to-be-less-skull-numbingly-boring-sap-files-mobile-device-patent/

While I love the idea of such a device, the technology behind it would be so diverse that no material, no hardware, no software, existing today even as a theoretical prototype, could be combined into such a device ... and yet they are applying for such patents and getting them approved, as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, just about anyone who's anyone in IT has done over the last years.

I simply cannot believe this patent scam! Worse: it's actually legal!

So if I were to apply for a patent for two thumbs to a hand, citing all the ligaments needing duplication, additional elbow bones, nerve-lines and redesigned brain-patterns, I'd be ashamed to have that patent granted to me, as I have not the slightest clue how to implement it in real life (one of my daughters is working on that on the side - says she won't be finished during my life-time).

If they want to patent ideas why not have any S/F or fantasy novel patented as it could become real life 100 years down the road? Why not patent a device that can reach faster-than-light speeds? Why not patent any crazy old idea running around in clueless brains?

My apologies for the rant - but it seriously irks me when a 'right to demand fame and money' is granted to someone who has no clue how to realize that claim. Just like I should not have the right to demand her money, for her invention, if 20 years down the road my daughter would actually manages to create such a second thumb. Just because I thought about this possibility first without a clue how to realize it.

Of course if I were a good little capitalist I'd start applying for patents right now (I have many more crazy ideas) and live off the proceeds the rest of my life :D