Crustless PB&J Patent Claim Meets Quick Death

According to the Patently-O Blog quoting an IP Law Bulletin report, the judges on the Federal Circuit Panel panel hearing In re Kretchman on April 6, 2005 were somewhat hostile to the applicant:

Judge Arthur Gajarsa noted that his wife often squeezes together the sides of their child's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep the filling from oozing out. "I'm afraid she might be infringing on your patent!" he said.

The rejection of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich patent was reportedly affirmed in a per curium decision last week. "There never was any mystery as to the eventual outcome, but only how long it would take for the cases to be decided," noted Hal Wegner. "Hats off to the Federal Circuit for getting rid of this patent in just two (2) days! Had the case remained pending for the usual several months, untold additional damage would have been done to the patent system in terms of further scorn and ridicule that the press would have heaped upon the patent system."