Silly Internet Patent #14: Reality-TV Adoption Shows

Boing Boing points us to a really silly pending patent application on a Method and system for enabling viewer polling and election of prospective parents in broadcast child adoption proceedings:

A child adoption proceeding is conducted in the form of a television game show and online media event, wherein couples compete against each other to win legal custody of the child. Adoptive parents are selected using a vote-by-phone and/or Internet voting scheme, together with 24-hour surveillance of the prospective parents, which enables television viewers and Internet users to inspect prospective parent-contestants in detail before voting for the winning parents. The present invention overcomes inequities of state-run or private adoption agencies, permitting a fairer selection process while providing greater time and access to observe a pool of prospective parents.

Claim 1:

A method for selecting adoptive parents, comprising:

(a) providing a plurality of parent-contestants;
(b) displaying, on a receiving unit comprising a video display, an image of at least one of said parent-contestants; transmitting selections from a plurality of viewers to a server facility over a communications network;
(c) compiling said selections transmitted over said communications network for each of said parent-contestants;
(d) and awarding at least one child available for adoption to at least one winning parent-contestant.

Normally I would comment, but this one speaks for itself.

Comments

[Katie]

That's not just silly, it's gross!