IPO The application concerns an apparatus for converting ‘hydraulic energy’ into kinetic energy. It describes a reciprocating vessel submerged in a tank of water. Various chambers within the vessel rise upwards due to the force of buoyancy, and move the centre of gravity of the whole apparatus to a position on the other side of a frame pivot. This is said to make the apparatus rotate until the buoyant chambers are again at the bottom of the apparatus, and the cycle can be reversed.
The Hearing Officer decided that it was a species of perpetual motion machine, alleged to operate in a manner that is clearly contrary to the law of conservation of energy. In its current form, the Hearing Officer found that the invention was not capable of industrial application, and/or was not disclosed in a manner which is clear enough and complete enough for the invention to be performed by a person skilled in the art. He accepted that it might be possible to amend the application to describe and claim the apparatus in a way that would overcome these objections, and he allowed a period of one month for the applicant to make such an amendment.
Citations:
[2008] UKIntelP o08608
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Intellectual Property
Updated: 09 September 2022; Ref: scu.456975