I was doing some searching on the internet for images of microwave oven parts when good old Google offered up this patent in amongst the search results. It was a patent for a method of wiring up microwave ovens filed in 1998 by Samsung Electronics.

It is for something that is, well, patently obvious.  Take a look at these images from the patent:

Yeah, I agree.  They want to patent that?  A really simple wiring change? It is like patenting a paper clip. Ah…  I see that it has a patent.  From way back in 1897. Come to think of it didn’t I hear about some sort of simple clicking on a web page that is covered by a patent?

The good news about the microwave wiring patent is that in 2000 someone had the good sense to throw the patent application out.  I now know that I can sleep soundly after rewiring microwave ovens safe in the knowledge that I did not illegally flout someones patent.