[lotsofmangos]

The fact this patent was granted in the first place seems completely absurd. But then again, we live in a world where Boeing has a patent on certain trajectories that use the moon's gravity (http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US6116545), so it shouldn't really surprise me.

[jbuzbee]

I recall a story a while back about a satellite that ended up in the wrong orbit after launch. The engineers knew how to correct it using various orbital maneuvers, but alas those maneuvers were patented and it was too expensive to license them. So the decision was made to splash the satellite and let the insurance companies pay out. At least that's my recollection...

Edit : Here's a description of the issue, which is a bit different than my recollection

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC-14#Launch_anomaly

[savanaly]

Surely this is a cases where the Coase theorem could have been of some use. But alas, transaction costs...

[vacri]

I thought that algorithms couldn't be patented?

[spacemanmatt]

Legally, they can't. But if you close your eyes, and pretend they are tangible, you could see it their way.

[dctoedt]

> But then again, we live in a world where Boeing has a patent on certain trajectories that use the moon's gravity

Interesting. That particular patent was owned by Hughes Electronics, though, not Boeing [1]. EDIT: Apparently in 2000 Boeing acquired that division of Hughes Electronics [2] but the transfer of ownership of the patent was never recorded in the USPTO.

The patent expired in 2012 because the owner didn't pay the required "maintenance fee," which is a statutory fee that must be paid every few years to keep a patent alive [3]; see the end of the document to which you linked.

[1] http://assignment.uspto.gov/#/search?adv=patNum%3A6116545&so...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_Aircraft_Company#Hughes_...

[3] http://www.uspto.gov/patents-maintaining-patent/maintain-you...

[lotsofmangos]

They maybe got embarrassed by it as it is the patent they used to screw with the AMC-14 satellite in 2008.

[iwwr]

There's a whole batch of patents related to space trajectories. Edward Belbruno also holds a few patents on low-energy transfers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Belbruno

Belbruno has been an innovative researcher otherwise, but it's hardly an excuse to monopolize math theorems or their computational applications.

[AlexandrB]

The patent system as it exists encourages this kind of behaviour. It's hardly surprising that people would take advantage of it. If he didn't do it, someone else would and a patent case to prove prior art gets expensive.