A Conversation for The Ig Nobel Prize
The Technology Award
Ythika the purple giraffe - Minister for Unusual Musical Instruments Started conversation Mar 14, 2003
The award to the Australian Patent Office only arose because the application came from an attorney to highlight the change in the lower level protection system. Previously there was a Petty Patent System which was a cheaper way to patent something aimed at fads like Rubik's cube. This system was not working the way it had been hoped so it was replaced with a registration system where the patent isn't searched unless the applicant pays extra money or the novelty of the invention is contested. This system is similar to the French system (and some others, I believe) and obviously if the wheel patent was ever challenged or the applicant requested it be searched it would be found not to be novel and the patent would not apply.
Not as Ignoble as first seems.
Ythika, getting off her soapbox
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