Owning Ideas

The recent spate of intellectual property law suits reminds me of a Goon Show episode in which one of the characters copyrights the word help. As usual, the classic "He's fallen in the water!" happens. When he shouts for for help, the copyright holder graciously pulls the victim out, charges him for using the word help, and promptly throws the sucker back! Of course, the victim shouts for help again, and the whole gag repeats. If that sounds like it was completely insane, it's no more insane than the possibility of someone owning an idea.

Now, if only I could remember in which episode that happened...