FRIDAY FUNNY: Last month, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in Hoffer v. Microsoft, holding that courts can correct typos in issued patent:

When a harmless error in a patent is not subject to reasonable debate, it can be corrected by the court, as for other legal documents. See Novo Indus., L.P. v. Micro Molds Corp., 350 F.3d 1348, 1356-57 (Fed. Cir. 2003). Here the error was apparent from the face of the patent, and that view is not contradicted by the prosecution history.

Once the rule was established, the court published the opinion here - and then promptly issued an errata sheet to correct typos here - only to find that additional errors needed correction and issued a second errata sheet here.

- I'm refraining from making a "practice what you preach" comment . . . really I am.

(courtesy of Greg Aharonian's news service)