This is prompted by Peter Bailey's response to the Pyramid tesselation problem a few subjects down. I find the notion of patenting a tesselation absurd (although it is pending I presume it must stand a good chance of success or else Sandia would not have submitted it). I have just one question:

Are American's generally embarassed by their patent system?

Americans have a lot of things to be embarrassed about, the least of which is their patent system.

Their electoral process, the officials elected by said system, their public education system, their healthcare system ...

George

(1). For a research organization, with major funding coming from the government, the number of patent is the measure of its performance. (the principle is universal, not just in US) (2). It might not be useful right now, but it could be very useful in the future. In most cases, it takes money to promote the use of these ideas, otherwise it just sit there doing nothing.

Although it is a statistically small sample, the answer looks like no?

(1). I would say that the invention and patent is the root of modern industrial society. It is the real driving force. And it is working.