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Perpetual Motion Machines

3/16/2017

 
These are machines that are claimed to produce more energy then they consume.  They are per se unpatentable in several patent offices around the world, for the reason that they are contrary to the established laws of thermodynamics.  In South Africa, for example, The Patents Act no 57 of 1978 states in section 36 that the registrar "shall" refuse any application that is frivolous on the basis of it claiming as an invention "anything obviously contrary to well established natural laws."  (See http://www.lexology.com/library/document.ashx?g=67e00d26-3b17-4a1e-a1ba-8f5a14ea7595).

Perpetual motion machines are not per se unpatentable in the United States. However, along with the applicant's patent application, the applicant will also be required to submit a working model to the USPTO for verification. This seems to be a much more open-minded approach.  Note, however, that to this date, not a single submitted "perpetual motion machine" has yet been proven to work. Such claimed inventions have been routinely rejected by the USPTO for lacking utility.

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