1. General remarks 

"An invention shall be considered as susceptible of industrial application if it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture". "Industry" is understood in its broad sense as including any physical activity of "technical character" (see G‑I, 1) (see G‑I, 2), i.e. an activity which belongs to the useful or practical arts as distinct from the aesthetic arts; it does not necessarily imply the use of a machine or the manufacture of an article and could cover e.g. a process for dispersing fog or for converting energy from one form to another. Thus, Art. 57 excludes from patentability very few "inventions" which are not already excluded by the list in Art. 52(2) (see F‑II, 1). One further class of "invention" which would be excluded, however, would be articles or processes alleged to operate in a manner clearly contrary to well-established physical laws, e.g. a perpetual motion machine. An objection could arise under Art. 57 only in so far as the claim specifies the intended function or purpose of the invention, but if, say, a perpetual motion machine is claimed merely as an article having a particular specified construction, then an objection is made under Art. 83 (see F‑III, 3).