alt Hacker NewsYes, mostly because no one actually cares much what anyone patents until a material invention eventuates, and partly so that they would be able to sue anyone who did actually invent it - which you will note they themselves of course did not proceed to do.
I don't claim this failed to occur because Sony is more decent than average, but because the idea is self-evidently very stupid. The thing is, when you get to have a "Patents" section in your CV, no one cares very much that they are stupid patents as long as you were working for a serious company when you got them. There is a point past which that's just a perquisite, like how the company subsidizes your au pair.
I've never needed an au pair! And I hold no patents of which I'm aware. But it is not 2009, or even 2013, any more.
That's a big assumption that this patent, a technology quite relevant to a massive media company, was filed only for future patent troll purposes. Plenty of seriously-intentioned ideas never materialize for a multitude of reasons.
The point is that the idea is now out in the wild and cannot be unseen, and however stupid or morally bankrupt it is, someone in the past did (and someone in the future will) think it was a good idea. And if and when it finally gets implemented for real, we all suffer.
The soda can validation 4chan meme isn't just a dumb joke. It's a warning.