A patent was issued by the USPTO for a method of swing on a swing, in which a user positioned on a standard swing suspended by two chains from a substantially horizontal tree branch induces side to side motion by pulling alternately on one chain and then the other.
When first hearing about this patent, many questions of the validity comes up. Firstly, who would the inventor of this patent go after for cases of infringement? The children playing the swings will be the one who infringe the patent, but it is not realistic that the inventor sue every child who did that. In addition, the inventor cannot go after the people who installed the swing, or the people who made the swings because they did not infringe on the patent.
The non-obviousness and novelty of this patent is also in doubt. It seems that this method may be considered obvious because there are only a few ways you can move a swing. You can move it sideways, up and down, or rotate it with respect to a different axis. This method then falls under the rotation because when one chain is pulled, the swing rotates vertically. Although it seems like an idea that is out of the box, it really is not because of the limited options there are to move the swing. When it comes to novelty, it further does not make sense because even a little kid can accidentally pull a chain on one side because of his/her playfulness, and see the effects. This then causes it to not be a new idea anymore.
With this being said, it seems like this patent for swinging is unrealistic and a stupid one. No one can ever earn royalties from having this patent, and it should not even have been valid to begin with. I wonder how it was first approved.
I agree that this is a ridiculous patent. I'm not sure how it is considered 'useful' by the USPTO, because clearly it can not be enforced.
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