Patents, Patents Everywhere!

According to Canadian Patent Librarian Michael White, everyone is jumping on the patent reality tv bandwagon. Ever since American Inventor debuted in the Spring of 2006 on ABC, other networks are following suit. PBS will be airing Everyday Edisons in May 2007 and are interviewing Oct. 28 in Chicago for the next season. Nov. 30 is the deadline for patent hopefuls to enter the History Channel’s Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge with a May 2007 airtime. Even Canadians are joining the race with two shows, Discovery Canada’s Patent Bending which tries to figure out why wacky inventions never became popular and CBC’s Dragons’ Den in which inventors compete for the backing of “business moguls” (the dragons).