In 2001, an Australian man named John Keogh designed a "circular transportation facilitation device." He patented it through his nation's intellectual property register. Since that time, this marvelous invention has become popularly known as the "wheel." It's a tremendously useful implement for moving objects across horizontal distances. Engineers have often applied it in combinations, so that it is now common to see devices with not only one wheel, but often two or more wheels.
Unfortunately for Keogh, he has lost the legal protection that his patent granted him and, no doubt, the impressive royalties that he gained by licensing it. Marc Abrahams of Beta Boston reports that the Australian government has quietly revoked Keogh's patent.
-via VA Viper