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> The word "patent" sounds especially weird to me in that context. Are they seriously "patents" for taxiing people?

"Patently" is a synonym for "obviously" - nothing to do with patents.

This is one of those funny cases where the etymological connection has been a bit obscured by time. Patents are called such because they are "open letters" disclosing the invention. Patent : Open :: Latent : Hidden.

Of course in this case it's patent that patent disclosures are not what is being referred to. :-)

Just saw your comment: Thanks for the insight! Now that I understood the root causes and laughed at the related word play, I won't forget anymore :)

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