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Guidelines for Examination

 
 
3.4
Aesthetic creations 

An aesthetic creation relates by definition to an article (e.g. a painting or sculpture) having aspects which are other than technical and the appreciation of which is essentially subjective. If, however, the article happens also to have technical features, it might be patentable, a tyre tread being an example of this. The aesthetic effect itself is not patentable, neither in a product nor in a process claim. For example, a book claimed solely in terms of the aesthetic or artistic effect of its information content, of its layout or of its letterfont, would not be patentable, and neither would a painting defined by the aesthetic effect of its subject or by the arrangement of colours, or by the artistic (e.g. Impressionist) style. Nevertheless, if an aesthetic effect is obtained by a technical structure or other technical means, although the aesthetic effect itself is not patentable, the means of obtaining it may be. For example, a fabric may be provided with an attractive appearance by means of a layered structure not previously used for this purpose, in which case a fabric incorporating such structure might be patentable. Similarly, a book defined by a technical feature of the binding or pasting of the back may be patentable, even though it has an aesthetic effect too, similarly also a painting defined by the kind of cloth, or by the dyes or binders used. Also a process of producing an aesthetic creation may comprise a technical innovation and thus be patentable. For example, a diamond may have a particularly beautiful shape (not of itself patentable) produced by a new technical process. In this case, the process may be patentable. Similarly, a new printing technique for a book resulting in a particular layout with aesthetic effect may well be patentable, together with the book as a product of that process. Again, a substance or composition defined by technical features serving to produce a special effect with regard to scent or flavour, e.g. to maintain a scent or flavour for a prolonged period or to accentuate it, may well be patentable.