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There has been a lot of controversy in the past few years about various countries issuing patents for well-known or "obvious" ideas.

Assuming it's not an elaborate practical joke, US patent #5443036 appears to be a good example of this: According to the IBM patent server at http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?&pn=US05443036__ it looks like this:

US patent #5443036: "Method of exercising a cat" by Kevin T. Amiss and Martin H. Abbott filed 2 Nov 1993, issued 22 Aug 1995

Abstract:
A method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam
of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus onto the
floor or wall or other opaque surface in the vicinity of the cat,
then moving the laser so as to cause the bright pattern of light to
move in an irregular way fascinating to cats, and to any other animal
with a chase instinct.

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