2.3 Industrial application
The objective of patent law is the promotion of technical and practical solutions. Therefore, an invention has to be capable of industrial application.
According to traditional concepts, an invention is capable of industrial application if it may be manufactured or used in any commercial activity, including agriculture.
EPO jurisprudence
 |
The
European Patent Office (EPO) has generally seen the requirement of
industrial application as more or less automatically fulfilled. However, in a 2005 decision (case number T 0870/04 - 3.3.8), the Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office required some profitable use for
which the substance to be protected can be employed. It held that the
mere fact that a substance could be produced in some ways does not
necessarily mean that the requirement [of industrial application] is
fulfilled.
"The whole burden cannot be left to the reader to guess or find a way to exploit an invention in industry by carrying out work in search for some practical application geared to financial gain without any confidence that any practical application exists. A vague and speculative indication of possible objectives that might or might not be achievable by carrying out further research with the tool as described is not sufficient for fulfillment of the requirement of industrial applicability. The purpose of granting a patent is not to reserve an unexplored field of research for an applicant." |
|
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) guidelines require that patent applications express a specific, credible, and substantial utility. |
In other words, under such a strict application of the industrial application requirement, you as a patent examiner can reject patent applications for those research tools that may be used for a variety of different uses. Only research tools for which specific uses may be identified should pass the industrial application test.
Practical example