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Whoah! No, really. I mean whoah. Stop.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but it appears to me that Sony has just patented an idea that's been around in SF, comics and pop culture for years. (The article's poorly conceived and written, the writer either being nearly a moron or feeling he has to write for some, but that's the gist of what I'm getting from this.) This isn't some device they've created -- there aren't even any experiments behind it -- it's just a broad, vague lock on the idea of creating sensory experience in the brain without the use of implants. (Let's not even get into how unsettling the idea of doing it via targeted ultrasound is.)

This is reminding me of the Selden patent that a handful of early automobile producers used to keep a lock on their market before it was effectively challenged and overturned. This move by Sony, if allowed to stand, is one of the many examples where intellectual property laws are completely out of control.

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