Borat and the patent application

An American patent examiner has rejected an application for a "Scrotal Support Garment," which bears great similarity to the appalling swimsuit that Sacha Baron Cohen famously wore in Borat.

In the non-final rejection, the examiner pointed to this picture of Borat found on the Internet. 

In 2009, three years after the film came out, inventor Donald R. Quinn attempted to patent this apparatus, describing his invention as relating to "medical appliances and support devices for male genitalia, and particularly to a scrotal support garment that provides support for the scrotum for patients having ailments or medical conditions affecting the genitalia or groin in order to relieve pain or discomfort." This is the image in the application:

But, the inventor hasn't given up. Two weeks ago, he made a request for an extension of time to respond to the non-final rejection.

Attorney Stewart Walsh commented on the IP Watchdog website that the "teaching point is that prior art can be found anywhere" and that patent examiners can't look beyond past patents to find reasons for rejections in pop culture. 

He also pointed to Samsung's recent defence against iPad patent claims made by Apple in which the company pointed to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.