- BL number
- O/632/20
- Concerning rights in
- GB1903870.2
- Hearing Officer
- Mr B Buchanan
- Decision date
- 15 December 2020
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- QCIC Ltd
- Provisions discussed
- Patents Act 1977 section 1(2)(c) & 76(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The claimed invention relates to a method of identifying and programming devices to be installed in an environment, such as access control devices in a building, and a system for doing the same. Firstly the Hearing Officer considered whether amendments to the claims made upon entering the national phase constituted added matter and concluded that they did not, because after reading the original specification, which used different terminology in parts, and considering how the invention would be implemented in practice, the skilled person would learn nothing new from the amended claims.
Finally the Hearing Officer followed the four step Aerotel/Macrossan test to determine whether there was a technical contribution and considered the AT&T signposts. The identified contribution was not found to provide the required technical effect and the claimed invention was found to relate solely to a program for a computer as such, so the application did not meet the requirements of section 1(2)(c). The application was refused under section 18(3).
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-challenge-decision-results/p-challenge-decision-results-bl?BL_Number=O/632/20
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