Imagine all the sex toys the patient office has to approve.
Its a dirty job; but someone’s gotta do it
Do I see a repo the generic opera reference here?
A very patient patent office
At least in Europe and Germany there is a rule that allows the parent office to reject such an application. However, I don’t have any examples right now. Nevertheless, I know that dildos are patentable.
Here is an except from Art. 53 of the European patent convention:
European patents shall not be granted in respect of:
(a) inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to “ordre public” or morality; such exploitation shall not be deemed to be so contrary merely because it is prohibited by law or regulation in some or all of the Contracting States
I knew of someone who had a patent for a device that attached to a forklift to aid in large scale floor remodeling (scraped up old vinyl flooring). The US military used Eminent Domain to steal that patent and use it for military operations (still just remodeling old floors, not even for combat operations).
I don’t know any more specifics about it. (I have a feeling there were more details that would have made that more understandable). Just that they can take a patent if they feel they need to.
I want that job of driving the forklift scraper
It’s also possible that the military had been using such a device for decades and it was actually prior art that invalidated the patent, but this was lost in the retelling. 🤔
Without going into detail I know there are a lot of things that are illegal to patent for more or less bureaucratic reasons, like paraphernalia, but you can get around it by saying that it’s for tobacco. Also, the military branches have representatives that work in the patent office, so if you find a unique way to kill people you are about to either become very rich, or very arrested.
