Town Gets Patent On Being the Center of Europe 169
An anonymous reader writes "And you thought software patents were going to far? How about geography patents? Apparently, as a part of the weird fight over what place in Europe represents the 'geophysical center of Europe,' the Austrian town of Frauenkirchen has received a patent (Austrian patent AM 7738/2003) declaring it the center of Europe. Not clear how one 'infringes' on such a patent, but then again, it's not clear why anyone's patenting this either."
Re:When Turkey gets the go ahead (Score:3, Informative)
EU != Europe
Re:Doubtful (Score:3, Informative)
The Austrian Patent Office website is pretty obtuse to navigate, but if you manage to find [patentamt.at] the search page, you can put "7738/03" in the trademark search box and get this result:
Anm.: IMAGEWORX MEDIENPRODUKTIONS-, VERLAGS- UND EVENTMARKETING GMBH *FRAUENKIRCHEN ^ST. MARTINSGASSE 5
Vertr: ZUST.ADR.: CORINO FABIANI *A-7132 FRAUENKIRCHEN ^ST. MARTINSGASSE 5
So there is at least some truth to the story, inasmuch as someone has registered a trademark there. But not a patent.
Re:When Turkey gets the go ahead (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Doubtful (Score:3, Informative)