Today’s NYT has an op-ed piece by Michael Crichton about patents and
absurd things that are patented. I think this fits our profession as
well as we have a few absurd patents on ideas that hurt, not help our field.
Here’s a link to the article. It requires a free subscription.
A couple of absurd patented ideas I know of are
1. posterior entry, solid ankle AFO
2. Double pull, rivet style poly AFO ankle joint.
I suspect that there are others. Just suppose that any of the standard,
posterior shell AFO trimlines, floor reaction design , or TRAFO/TIAFO
designs had been patented. I think it’s wonderful that someone (I
believe in Indiana) developed the floor reaction design and shared it
with the rest of the world. Same with the UCBL, the Milwaukee CTLSO,
PTB AFO etc.
I suspect that every practitioner who’s been in the field for any length
of time has developed some improvement in a design or technique yet
refrained from putting a patent on it so that either other’s could not
use it or need to pay a fee for it’s use.
Just some thoughts inspired by Mr. Crichton’s article.
Harold Anderson, CO
