Frivolous Inventions and Claims Contrary to Natural Laws

1Any invention which is frivolous or which claims anything obviously contrary to well established natural laws is not patentable. A patent will not be granted if it claimed a perpetual motion machine as it contravenes the laws of physics. (T5/86 Newman/Perpetual Motion [1988] EPOR 301 (Tech Bd App).) A patent involving a revolutionary concept will not be entertained if the person of average skill in the art would not be able to fill in the missing details from his own knowledge or following reasonable trial and error. A patent for an improved plan for subterranean utility distribution whereby housing estates are provided with supplies of gas, electricity and water and sewage disposal facilities was held not patentable as the same was considered mischievous to the state by being generally inconvenient. (Hiller’s Application (1969) RPC 267, p 268 applying Rolls-Royce Ltd’s Application (1963) RPC 255.)