Go to the USPTO’s website (www.uspto.gov) to look up Patent No. 6,004,596. Read the patent. After reading the patent, are you more inclined or less inclined to side with the Smucker’s point of view?

Here’s a question that a panel of judges decided: Can a company patent how it makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? More specifically, in this instance, judges considered whether J. M. Smucker’s method of making Uncrustables—which is a crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich sealed inside soft bread—is worthy of legal protection against imitators. While the nature of this case is interesting, the legal rulings resulting from the case have broader implications. At stake is how generous the patent office should be in awarding patents—an issue with solid arguments on both sides.