You Can’t Patent God (or Perpetual Energy from Him), Part II: Holy Perpetual Motion!

Danie Roy

Last time, we talked about claiming God as an invention. Philosophical religious discussions aside, you can’t do that. Even if we assume that a deity is patentable subject matter, there’s probably enough prior art for the Examiner to have a field day. And, of course, we already knew that you can’t claim to BE God, either.

Before we begin, a quick confession: I’m actually disappointed that this guy didn’t name God as a co-inventor. He did, however, phrase his claims to say “(GOD) and I claim:”

Oh, and did I mention that this is a two-for one? Meet US Published Patent Applications 2001/0028237 and 2002/0063549: “Perpetual motion energy of (GOD) on generating stations” and “Perpetual motion energy of (GOD) on countenance energy and motor starting in a vehicle.”

The files in Public Pair do not disappoint, either. The attorney docket numbers are both (GOD) ALMIGHTY. Unfortunately, I can’t get access to the image file wrappers… I always enjoy seeing how the Examiners handle these situations.

As always, the moral of the story is always contact a registered patent practitioner before filing. 1)You’ll know whether your invention is patentable or not, 2)You’ll save money either way, and 3)If it is patentable, you’ll get a BETTER patent.