Sex toys will violate public order and morality? The patent office in India seems to think so.
Standard Innovation Corporation, an Ontario-based company, had applied for a vibrator patent to prevent generic local copycats. However, the Indian patent office reasoned in their rejection letter that sex toys lead "to obscenity and moral deprivation".
The Indian patent office, for their opposition to the patent, invoked Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which is a 155 colonial-era law against gay sex and unnatural sex.
Sex toys are however openly sold online in India; while men made up 62%, 38% of the buyers are women. Punjabi women buy the most intimacy toys – according to Huffington.in – but they can't beat the men in Gujarat.
The sixth most sexually active country in the world, India, pretends not to view sex toys positively. The law views sex toys negatively, says the patent office. An appeal is currently pending before the higher court.
References
India rejects patent plea for 'immoral' sex toy
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