This may could be the loosest interpretation yet of patent trolling.
I have a regular search set up to help me find interesting and relevant and patent applications within our industry and most of the time they are serious patents. Many come from the large EDA and semiconductor companies, systems houses and some from small startups attempting to protect their nascent technology. But one came up on my search today that was a little different from the rest. It involved recycling of old electronic parts as part of a fishing lure. At first I thought they meant a silicon wafer when the abstract talked about the color, brilliance and shininess being elements that attracted fish. They also added movement, sound, vibration and smell as being things that could help to improve a lure. When I saw the main diagram it became clear they were talking about packaged parts.
In the description, the inventor Eric Hansen of West Jordan, UT, states that “The location of the lateral prongs positioned in a spaced apart fashion along a length of the elongate body creates a wave pattern when moved within the water that attracts fish to the lure.”
So, this got me thinking about other possibilities. Why could the device not be an active device and incorporate light, sound and other simple functions? Also, would a bare wafer have the same attractive abilities – even though it would be a lot more difficult to make that a working part? Perhaps if the packaged part was an FPGA or processor, different functions could be experimented with to see if different fish had different preferences.
The patent application US 2013/0283668 A1 was filed in April 2012 and is not yet an accepted patent. It only covers Dual Inline Packages, so there is plenty of room for more ideas and more patents in this area.
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