

New patent granted for building a “snow man/woman” - rizumu
http://improbable.com/2011/09/07/new-patent-granted-for-building-a-snow-manwoman/

======
darylteo
To be fair, the article is inaccurate.

The patent describes a component (in this case, a sphere of some material that
grabs snow around it) being used in the construction of a snowman. Thus, the
snowman/woman is not the creation here.

~~~
reemrevnivek
To be clear, the patent owner also holds a patent on the wheel:
<http://www.ipmenu.com/archive/AUI_2001100012.pdf>

~~~
ramchip
The first page of the document explains it all, however:

 _Innovation patents are a new type of patent available only in Australia.
[...] Innovation patents are granted without examination, usually within 1 to
3 months, whereas standard patents are examined only after paying the
examination fee, and usually take 2 to 4 years. After an innovation patent has
been granted, the owner or any person may request examination, and such
examination must occur before the owner can commerce or threaten to commence
infringement proceedings._

So basically you could submit anything you want as an invention patent. The
paper is more or less worthless as long as you don't get it examined.

------
ramchip
_The patent not only provides methods for creating a spherically-shaped body
that provides an interior structure of the snow man/woman, but also describes
how a generator can provide a sufficient electric charge to attract and adhere
snow to the outer surface._

------
nealclark
The unfortunate part is all the prior art melted.

------
scriptproof
A patent to snowman was filed by Angela Holiday in 2006. Number 7,963,500.
Apparently granted in June 2011.

