US Patent: Linked List

The Linked List was recently patented… no, not by Donald Knuth or some one working with Godfather of Computer Science. No, the Linked List was patented by a Ming-Jen Wang of LSI Logic Corporation in 2006.

The patent abstract says,”A computerized list is provided with auxiliary pointers for traversing the list in different sequences. One or more auxiliary pointers enable a fast, sequential traversal of the list with a minimum of computational time. Such lists may be used in any application where lists may be reordered for various purposes.”

That is the same exact description of a pointer given in my college textbook, before this patent was filed. It is clear that there is a patent land rush. For would be inventors, the patent system is the best thing since sliced bread, and I’m sure this Ming-Jen Wang has that patent pending for sliced bread.

I’m going to patent the Linked Hash Map, because this guy patent’s that too. Someone should patent the pointer, if that is not already patented. If there is an ambulance chasing lawyer that would like to work pro bono, I think we should patent something critical to civilization, like calculus or pottery.

It is clear that omitting prior art is an art in itself that some have perfected to a science.