US Patent Office can't read upside down faxes

[Fat Tone]

[cjolley]

It's probably because they granted a software patent on reading upside down faxes.

[VJ]

The discussion on gizmodo suggests that maybe it was blank, and the sender put the pages with the text facing the wrong way...

On QI (bbc tv), they were fantasizing about the patent application for the paperclip.
"For an example of the invention, see upper left corner"
"There nothing here, just something holding the pages togheter"

[Dr Mordrid]

Probably correct, but illiterate or just plain stupid Federal employees aren't exactly unheard of. Just look at Congress or the IRS.