Hacker News Reader

and here's another one. Wheel patented (in Australia) as a "circular transportation facilitation device" http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn965-wheel-patented-in-...

View on HN

The Australian Innovation Patent isn't really a patent. When an application is filed a formalities check is completed, but no prior art search is conducted. Also, the inventor and assignee of an AIP can't litigate. If one wanted to, the Australian Patent Office would need to examine and issue an allowance as a standard patent.

From the perspective of the US patent system, the AIP is more like a provisional patent application than anything else.

http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/get-the-right-ip/patents/types...

If I had the money to throw away for the application fee I was going to patent "A Digital Method for Removal of Sinus Mucal Buildup"

Reply on news.ycombinator.com