Companies or individuals have long tried to patent overly broad or preexisting works.  The U.S. is no stranger to such patents -- IBM has tried to patent outsourcing efficiently, and other companies have in essence patented the video game controller and brought litigation against Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft.  It is also home to some of the world's most aggressive patent trolls.

Still, in the world of weird patents and patent litigation, the story of Russian entrepreneur Oleg Teterin stands out.

Mr. Teterin has secured a Russian copyright for the emoticon ;-) , issued by the federal patent agency.  Critics blasted the move, saying that the patent is trash, as the icon has been in the public domain for years now and that prior art would be easy to prove.  However, Mr. Teterin has big plan for his new patent.

He says that he will seek litigation against corporations using the symbol in their communication or advertising.  However, he will not go after individuals he says, as he explains, "I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder."

"Legal use will be possible after buying an annual licence from us.  It won't cost that much - tens of thousands of dollars," he remarked.

At the current time, though, he has no plans to track down infringers, though, he states.

He believes that several other related emoticons may be his property as well, such as :-) or ;) or :).

Some say Mr. Teterin's moves are a marketing gimmick for his company Superfone.  Nikita Sherman, president of Russian social networking site odnoklassniki.ru states, "You're not likely to find any retards in Russia who'll pay Superfone for the use of emoticons."

Alexander Malis, a director of the firm Vympelkom, says that his company uses the symbol but will not pay.  He mocked the patent, suggesting someone patent brackets.

Interestingly, the development is not the first time a Russian has tried to seek ownership of an emoticon.  Siemens was sued by a Russian man in 2005 and lost, only to finally succeed in having the suit thrown out in a St. Petersburg appeals court.

Here in the U.S. Google and other tech giants have formed an alliance to fight "patent trolling" and junk litigation.