- BL number
- O/272/17
- Concerning rights in
- GB 1316258.1
- Hearing Officer
- Mr P Mason
- Decision date
- 6 June 2017
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Yo! Homes Limited
- Provisions discussed
- Section 1(1)(b)
- Keywords
- Inventive step
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application concerns a residential apartment system which can be reconfigured to form various specific rooms by means of motorized or mechanical systems located in voids in the wall, ceiling and floor.
The Hearing Officer accepted the argument that the application was not a collocation as the individual features cooperated with a synergy to form an overall system for moving the apartment between configurations.
The Hearing Officer considered the skilled man and their common general knowledge. He identified the skilled man as a team that lead by an architect specialising in compact living spaces further drawing on skills in the provision of domestic services. As this is an art with an international flavour the common general knowledge was also considered to have an international nature and would not necessarily be limited to the UK.
Applying the approach set out in Windsurfing and Pozzoli the hearing officer found that the differences between the inventive concept of the system defined in the independent claims and the prior art would not be obvious to the skilled person and allowed the application as having an inventive step required by section 1(1)(b).
The application was remitted back to the examiner for completion of the search and clarification of the claims.