Athletic Patents?

In 1996, a group of intellectual property lawyers wrote an article for the US National Law Journal, arguing that athletic manoeuvres were appropriate subjects for patents. A method for skiing 10% faster, for example, was clearly a ‘useful process’ in certain contexts, such as trying to win a race. Similarly, athletic techniques could undoubtedly be non-obvious and novel. Technically speaking, Robert M Kunstadt, F Scott Kieff, and Robert G Kramer certainly had a point, but their proposal seems unlikely to be taken up by the sporting world in the foreseeable future. The patenting of manoeuvres would play havoc with competition. As the Brits say, it just wouldn’t be cricket.