This man lost a five year battle with the courts to have a penis doodle recognised as his signature

A man has lost a five year battle with various Australian authorities to use a drawing of a penis as his official signature.

Jared Hyams signed a change of address application with a phallic doodle five years ago, suspecting that it would not be scrutinised.

He told the Sydney Morning Herald:


>I thought it would be a laugh; they would approve it and next year I would sign something different.

However, he was met by a torrent of letters, refusing to recognise the signature as authentic.

I was receiving letters and phone calls telling me I couldn't have it. I thought, that's interesting, why not?

Instead of relenting and signing his name, Hyams entered a five year legal battle with state and federal government agencies over whether his inscription of a penis constitutes a legitimate signature.

He adopted the inscription as his official signature and applied for all future documents with it: passport, driver’s license, heavy goods vehicle license, proof of age - you name the official document, the application for it was signed with a phallus.

The Australian agency for drivers licenses, initially rejected his signature and although Jared has appealed twice, both times it has been fought by a magistrate.

The Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs refused him a passport as the signature "could constitute sexual harassment”, while the Department of Justice rejected his application for a Working With Children criminal check.

To be fair, Jared admitted he feels some “sensitivity” to the latter’s decision, but will keep fighting his crusade.

What a signature is comes down to the function, not the actual form.

As soon as you start defining what a signature is you run into problems - if it's meant to be someone's name how do we define that because most signatures are just illegible scribble.