And that's not even the world's most absurd patent.

So this happened: Apple was just granted a patent on rounded corners for rectangular electronic devices. It's tempting to think that patents are becoming more absurd, but that would be a mistake. The US and other patent bodies have always granted overly broad patents. What's changed is that courts, in recent years, have started to award damages based on them.

Here's a list of historical patents that have been violated millions of times--but have yet to earn their creators a cent.

The Wheel

IP Australia

In 2001, Australian John Keogh patented a "circular transportation facilitation device" (PDF). Keogh, a freelance patent attorney, filed for and received his patent on the 5,000-year old contrivance in order to demonstrate flaws in Australia's "innovation patent" system for fast-tracking legal protection of new ideas.

Every Smartphone Ever

USPTO

In 1999, NetAirus Technologies filed for a patent on a "wireless communication system," and it was granted in 2006. Four scant years later, lacking any products of its own, the company used its patent--so broad that it covers basically every smartphone ever invented--to sue Apple. That trial is ongoing.