Pete C. wrote:

Genius is recognizing the obvious before everyone else.
It should be rewarded.

--Winston


Inventing a practical electric light - Genius
People were already using candles, fireplaces and gas light.
According to your criteria, the electric light
is nothing more than another way to illuminate
a room.

You were referring to Joseph Swann's 1878 invention, the one
that he patented before Edison claimed it as his own, right?

Or were you talking about the 1839 arc lamp?

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1330.htm

Inventing the telephone - Genius
A faster, more convienient telegraph, invented 39 years before
the telephone.
Telegraph multiplexers proved you could place different audio
frequencies on a telegraph line. Duplex telegraphs proved you
could use the same line in both directions at the same time.
Was the telephone such a great leap from that point intellectually,
especially from our viewpoint in a spoiled, pampered future?

Applying a timer to windshield wipers to do what people were already
doing manually - Obvious

OK Pete, using your criteria these are all obvious and unpatentable, yes?:

* A clothes dryer that automatically sorts and folds your laundry.

* A kitchen robot that prepares 100's of your favorite dishes,
just the way you like them.

* A robot in the back yard that keeps the lawn in trim, cares
for your vegetable garden. Waters, weeds, mulches, fertilizes.

* A self - cleaning front yard that gathers and bales twigs and
leaves for pickup.

* A robot that vacuums your living room and hallway; another that
scrubs your kitchen floor: http://www.irobot.com/

* Another to do bomb disposal: http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=109


'Obviousness' is just another retroactive justification for theft.

--Winston