This is what annoyed me about this patent as well, its like saying "Dibs!" if someone can build this thing, we own it! Seriously? I'd write more but I'm busy writing up patents on Phase Conduits and Deflector arrays.

Actually, using patents in that way seems to have a long history - Feynman mentions something about having his name on a patent for nuclear powered aircraft in "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman".

Similar story with Sony patenting brain interface[1] . Funny thing was after watching the Matrix the first time, me and a friend were debating why people would want to insert something directly into the skull and mess around with neurons possibly. I suggested using sound waves to trigger nerve signals, he laughed at silly idea and it was forgotten . A year later saw the Sony patent on slashdot and for a few minutes i really did think they had done some work on this, till i realized they had just called 'Dibs' on the idea.

[1] http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18624944.600-sony-pate...

At that time Feynman was filing patents on behalf of the government during wartime when there were other concerns than wildly trying to grasp any possible market. I would guess that the government was trying to ensure that individuals and corporations would not be in a position to obtain a monopoly on an invention that could gain the US a tactical/strategic advantage in the war.

Ah, the good old days, when the government would simply abuse the existing legal process to screw the little guy instead of just declaring a new process by fiat ala NSL/executive order/etc when it suits them.