Flutterby™! : patenting breakage

David Chess had a link to an interesting patent on methods of processing rebates with computer:

The present invention satisfies a need for a more consumer friendly method for processing rebates that maintains a breakage rate, prevents fraudulent claims, provides on-line status reporting, and provides a centralized rebate processing center for matching rebate promotions with qualified consumers.

In other words: gives the consumer warm fuzzies but still makes sure that a large number of the applications for the rebate don't get processed.