Denied Submissions Archive
Precedent Exists.
Not every submission results in a Certificate of No Precedent. Some submissions describe things that have, in fact, been done before. We issue a Precedent Found Report. These are some of them. We publish them with client consent, and occasionally without it when the precedent is sufficiently well-documented to be a matter of public record.
A Precedent Found Report is not a judgment. It is a finding. The client was not wrong to ask. The precedent simply exists. We recommend they proceed with whatever they were planning, informed by the fact that someone has already done it. This is useful information.
A business model in which customers pay a subscription fee to access a catalog of digital content they do not own
Submitted as: "A completely new way to monetize media that nobody has tried." Precedent found: Netflix (2007), Spotify (2008), every major streaming service subsequently. Multiple prior art citations. Precedent Found Report issued.
Client note: "I thought I meant something different." We noted this. It did not change the finding.
Leaving a note for one's future self inside a time capsule
Submitted as: "Something I don't think anyone has really done in a formal way." Precedent found: documented from 1795 (cornerstone time capsule, Boston), formalized in the 20th century across thousands of institutions. Precedent Found Report issued with a bibliography.
The bibliography was longer than the client expected. We included it in full. We felt it was warranted.
An apology that explicitly acknowledges the harm caused without offering an excuse
Submitted as: "Something I genuinely don't think people do." Precedent found: documented across multiple cultural traditions, therapeutic frameworks, and restorative justice literature. The concept has a name in several languages. Precedent Found Report issued.
We note that precedent existing does not make the thing easier to do. We are not unsympathetic.
A restaurant that serves only one dish, prepared one way, with no substitutions
Submitted as: "A concept I invented." Precedent found: documented across multiple countries, centuries, and culinary traditions. The concept is sufficiently established to have its own culinary terminology in at least four languages. Precedent Found Report issued.
We recommended three prior examples the client might visit for research. They seemed annoyed. We maintain the recommendation.
The first formally submitted No-Precedent request for an action that had been done before
This submission is its own case. The client submitted a request asking us to certify as unprecedented the act of submitting a No-Precedent request for something that already had precedent. Upon review: this was, in fact, the first time this specific framing had been submitted to this specific organization. A Certificate of No Precedent was issued for the meta-act. A Precedent Found Report was simultaneously issued for the underlying act.
Both documents were sent in the same envelope. We considered this elegant.
On receiving a Precedent Found Report
A Precedent Found Report means someone has done this before. It does not mean you should not do it. Most valuable things have been done before. The precedent may inform your approach. It may provide useful context. It may, in some cases, save you from a mistake. We issue the report in the spirit of information, not discouragement. What you do with the finding is entirely up to you.