It is not a perfect world. Tankers spill oil. Innocent people land in jail. Bad calls cost the home team a championship. And as almost anyone in the intellectual-property game will tell you, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues to grant patents that are, well, patently invalid. I'm talking about patents for things that have either already been invented or are so straightforward and apparent they don't meet the patent's law requirements for being novel and nonobvious.

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