off-topic... > How the hell is a shape patentable?
Easy. Just like when I used to clip a playing card to a bicycle frame with a clothespin to make noise. This was apparently finally patented in 2000 -- Sound generating device for spoked wheel (US Patent 6039338 issued 03/21/2000) I'm digging around the the Australian patent for the spoked wheel (which I think came out in 2000). Sorry I did not book mark it when I found it. Or how about IBM's patent application for Outsourcing of Services (see http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/29/1734209) There are some REALLY BAD patents out there... EBo --
