New Zealand made but stolen from us

NZ pop group True Bliss. Photo / Supplied

There's a long roll call of Kiwi inventions that have been ripped off, pillaged and copied by the world.

Meringue perfection
The pavlova was first served here in the 1920s. We know it, you know it, but try telling that to the Aussies.

Pineapple lumps
Invented in Oamaru in the 1950s, but only last week an Ocker TV host offered a lump or two to pop band One Direction as an "Aussie delicacy in Queensland".

Human flight
Pioneer Christchurch aviator Richard Pearce took off and landed his flying machine in 1903, nine months before American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright got theirs off the ground. But the Wright brothers received all the glory.

TV home makeover competitions
Mitre 10 Dream Home was the first of its kind, but they couldn't convince an Australian court that TV show The Block was based on their idea.

Cork popping simplicity
Kiwi inventor Bryce Stewart, 71, spent eight years perfecting a bottle-opener for champagne, only for American company Franmara to ignore his patent and sell an exact copy online. Stewart was awarded more than $1 million in damages.

Jogging
Millions of people worldwide don trainers and pound the pavement every day for fitness and fun, with barely a nod to the father of jogging: the late Arthur Lydiard, of Auckland.

Ready made pop stars
In the beginning there was TrueBliss, the Kiwi girl band created in 1999 on the reality show Popstars. The format was sold to Australian and then followed dozens, if not hundreds of copycat shows including The X-Factor, American Idol and all the other Idols, America's Got Talent, and all the others with (or without) talent.