India rejects patent for ‘morally degrading’ sex toy

Such items are banned but remain available for sale online

India's patent office has rejected a patent for a vibrator (We-Connet)

India’s patent office has refused an application for a new vibrator because sex toys are “morally degrading”.

Canada-based company Standard Innovation Corporation applied for a patent for their “we vibe” product earlier this year hoping to prevent local copycats from using its U-shaped device.

According to the BBC, the item's patent was rejected by officials in April over fears that its use would lead to the “obscenity and moral deprivation of individuals".

In a statement, the patent office stated that sex toys were considered obscene and held no value.

"These are toys that are not considered useful or productive. Mostly these are considered to be morally degrading by the law," the office said in a statement.

"The law views sex toys negatively and has never engaged positively with the notion of sexual pleasure."

In their decision, the office also referred to Section 292 of Indian Penal Code, a 155-year-old colonial-era law, which criminalises gay sex and unnatural intercourse.

Although sex toys are banned in India, they are openly sold online and on the black market.

An appeal to strike down provisions of the law is pending before the Supreme Court.

Shamnad Basheer, a professor at India’s National Law School, condemned the decision, telling the BBC: "Officials trained in technical science are not supposed to decide whether an invention is moral or immoral."