Kiss Patented? 'Kiss Off' Say Couples
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - A lot of people have been doing a lot of kissing on this Valentine's Day. And if a romance novel publisher gets its way, this time next year, kissers will be violating a patent.
That's right. The romance novel publisher Harlequin wants to patent the kiss.
But a patented kiss may actually have all the ingredients for a really bad romance.
Sean Flynn was on the TCU campus, escorting his girlfriend to dinner. "No way. There's no way you can patent a kiss," he said.
But Harlequin even added a diagram to show couples how a romantic kiss is really done.
Couples found it... AWKWARD!
"That's the most awkward kiss I've ever had," Briane Younke said.
Casey and Jennifer Lewis have been married for two years. He's a seminary student. She's an occupational therapist. Both were reluctant to press their lips together in public but agreed to try Harlequin's diagram.
It was another awkward moment.
Patent Attorney Brian Yost says a kiss fails the novelty test.
"In order to obtain a patent there are certain requirements and one is that it needs to be
new," Yost said.
"The Kiss" is already in the public knowledge, certainly in photographs. There's the famous World War II kiss. "I think it's the sailor coming back from WWII," Yost said.
Then, there are the movies like the Princess Bride. "In that movie he said it was the best kiss ever performed," Yost said.
In his own mind, the best kiss Yost remembers is the one on his wedding day.
But romance publishers may have a point in wanting to put passion back in the public eye.
Tyler Bates just couldn't kiss his girl in public even on Valentine's Day because he said he comes from generation awkward and embarrassing.
"It's too embarrassing, too embarrassing, way too embarrassing," Bates said.
Paul and Shirita Schneider, married 20 years, think he'll get over it.
"As you get older it matters less what other People think and more what your spouse thinks," Shirita said.
And then they kissed and kissed again, even though everyone was walking around them.
