Patent knowledge and the pursuit of happiness

Celebrating International Day of Happiness with a smile

“The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely."
(Louisa May Alcott)

The wellbeing of each person is undoubtedly very different, taking into account some of the underlying factors that determine one’s life. Can happiness be defined or measured, considering that happiness is subjective? Society has always grappled with this question.

In the late 1970s, the Kingdom of Bhutan introduced the concept of “Gross National Happiness” to define progress and social wellbeing not only in economic terms, but also in other domains such as health, psychological wellbeing, good governance or environmental sustainability.

Recognising happiness as a “fundamental human goal”, the UN General Assembly called for changes towards “a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and wellbeing of all people”. This led to the first-ever Happiness Conference in 2012, which established 20 March as the International Day of Happiness. The UN observance was launched in 2013 and celebrated worldwide with a range of events such as mindfulness sessions in Bhutan, flash mobs in London, laughter yoga in Hong Kong and many others.

But is there also a link between happiness and technological inventions? To mark the International Day of Happiness, we searched for happiness-related patents in various fields and are happy to present some of them in this article.

Happiness is…

Let’s take a look at a patent application for a happiness model-generating device, which estimates a person’s happiness based on the results of a questionnaire given to the subject.

Music and art are said to inspire and arouse positive emotions in people. A Korean patent application titled “Method and apparatus for providing visual effects of music” attempted to define criteria for associating musical pieces with various feelings, such as happiness or excitement, and to assign certain visual effects to these feelings.

Although the invention sounds interesting, it is difficult to say whether it would have met the requirements for grant. According to information in the Korean patent register (KIPRIS), the application was revoked because the applicant had not submitted a request for examination within the statutory period of three years from the date of filing.

 

The hope and happiness kit is another quirky invention for which an innovation patent (similar to a utility model in other jurisdictions) was granted in Australia.

 

Each item in the kit represents an element that has a positive association: the bandage represents the healing of hurt feelings, the eraser makes mistakes disappear and a toothpick “picks out” the good in everyone, including yourself.

According to the legal event information in Espacenet, this invention is back in the public domain. The patent was granted in 2018 but lapsed three years later as the owner did not pay the annual renewal fees in time. Bad news for the inventor, but good news for you: happiness is no longer restricted to the patent owner but can be enjoyed by the public.

We often hear the expression “pursuit of happiness” in films and music, but a patent application filed at the USPTO used that very same expression: the “System and method to enable pursuit of happiness”.

In simple terms, the invention provides a system with a sequence of actions for users to improve certain personality traits or problems with the ultimate goal of increasing personal happiness.

However, the Global Dossier shows that the applicant was not very successful in his quest for happiness during the granting procedure. He did not respond to an office action, so the application is deemed abandoned.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about this fascinating connection between patent knowledge and happiness. We wish you a wonderful and joyful International Day of Happiness!

Keywords: Happy, happiness, well-being, patent knowledge, Espacenet, Global Dossier