THE LAWRENCE SUMMERS MEMORIAL AWARD*

The September 2000 Lawrence Summers Memorial Award* goes to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). PTO is the government agency that awards patents for new and useful inventions. Critics complain that PTO has gone overboard in recent years, issuing patents on claims that are not real inventions or that are not new. A series of golf-related patents suggest the critics may have a point.

Examples include the following:

Abstract for US Patent No. 5,616,089 - Method of putting

A method of putting features the golfer's dominant hand so that the golfer can improve control over putting speed and direction. The golfer's non-dominant hand stabilizes the dominant hand and the orientation of the putter blade, but does not otherwise substantially interfere with the putting stroke. In particular, a right-handed golfer grips the putter grip with their right hand in a conventional manner so that the thumb on the right hand is placed straight down the top surface of the putter grip. The golfer addresses the ball as if to stroke the putter using only the right hand. Then, the golfer takes the left hand and uses it to stabilize the right hand and the putter. To do this, the golfer places their left hand over the interior wrist portion of the right hand behind the thumb of the right hand with the middle finger of the left hand resting on the styloid process of the right hand. The golfer presses the ring finger and the little finger of their left hand against the back of the right hand. The golfer also presses the palm of the left hand against the putter grip and squeezes the right hand with the left hand. The golfer then takes a full putting stroke with the above described grip.

(See: http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum. htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='5616089'.WKU.&OS=PN/5616089&RS=PN/5616089)

Abstract for U.S. Patent No. 6,086,487 - Method for matching golfer with a ball

A method for selecting a golf ball whose performance characteristics match a golfer's critical playing characteristics for the purpose of reducing the golfer's score. The method comprises the steps of determining a golfer's critical playing characteristics, prioritizing ball performance characteristics, and selecting a golf ball from a predetermined set of golf balls which best matches the golfer's critical playing characteristics to ball performance characteristics.

(See http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=2&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r= 56&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=curr&s1=golf&OS=golf&RS=golf)

Thanks to James Love for identifying these award-winning patents.

*In a 1991 internal memorandum, then-World Bank economist and current Secretary of Treasury Lawrence Summers argued for the transfer of waste and dirty industries from industrialized to developing countries. "Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs (lesser developed countries)?" Summers wrote. "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that. ... I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is vastly inefficiently low [sic] compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City." Summers later said the memo was meant to be ironic.