IP: 1999 patent issued for using barcode tatoos for human identification

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 09:40:28 -0800
> To: nobody () well com
> From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com>
> Subject: 1999 patent issued for using barcode tatoos for human
>  identification
>
> Aside from the comparison of this patent to the numbers tatooed on 
> prisoners in Hitler's death-camps during World War II more than half a 
> century ago, and its comparison to the barcode scanning systems that have 
> been in use for decades to identify everything from cans of soup to 
> patient tags used in some hospitals and medical records -- one wonders 
> what kindergarden child working in the US Patent and Trademark Office 
> concluded that this was a non-obvious and novel "discovery" worthy of a 
> patent?!
>
> The US PTO is obviously in need of some adult supervision!
>
> ===
>
> http://patents.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/ifetch4?ENG+PATBIB-ALL+0+967198+0+7+25907+OF+1+1+1+PN%2f5878155 
>
>
> United States Patent    5,878,155
> Heeter  Mar. 2, 1999
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Method for verifying human identity during electronic sale transactions
> Abstract
> A method is presented for facilitating sales transactions by electronic 
> media. A bar code or a design is tattooed on an individual. Before the 
> sales transaction can be consummated, the tattoo is scanned with a 
> scanner. Characteristics about the scanned tattoo are compared to 
> characteristics about other tattoos stored on a computer database in order 
> to verify the identity of the buyer. Once verified, the seller may be 
> authorized to debit the buyer's electronic bank account in order to 
> consummate the transaction. The seller's electronic bank account may be 
> similarly updated.
>
> ===
>
> --jim, Jim Warren; jwarren () well com
> Contributing Editor & technology public-policy columnist, MicroTimes Magazine
> Also GovAccess list-owner/editor