They have revoked the patent for the wheel

I have begun blogging about Improbable Innovation (a very broad category, that!) for the Boston Globe‘s BetaBoston.com web site. My first report there begins:

Re-inventing the wheel: Why not? Many do.

Despite the warning “Don’t re-invent the wheel”, people continue to reinvent the wheel. Some of those people file patent applications. Patent offices even approve some of those applications.

I discovered today that the Australian patent office has — quietly — revoked the patent it granted, in the year 2001, for the wheel. The patent office had awarded Innovation Patent #2001100012 to John Keogh of Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia.…

I plan to link, here on the Improbable Research web site, to my BetaBoston items that are appropriate.