IPO The application relates to a foodstuff which has specific macronutrient content parameters, the macronutrients in question being protein, fat and carbohydrate, when used in a method of increasing the acceptance and enjoyment of the foodstuff to a cat. The hearing officer found independent claims 1 and 6 to be lacking in clarity, with it … Continue reading Mars UK Limited (Patent): IPO 16 Oct 2007
The invention concerned a device for showing correct ladder angle, comprising a weighted indicator connected via a hoop to a semi-circular rail, positioned near the top of a symbol ‘A’. The indicator moved along the rail as the ladder incline changed. Correct ladder angle was shown by alignment with a marking within a limb of … Continue reading Kevin Hickey (Patent): IPO 7 Jun 2012
IPO Inventive step – The application is concerned with installing software on a computer system and resolving any dependencies that arise by making copies of dependant resources. The examiner’s inventive step objection was based on two sets of citations, the first set showing that it is known to copy shared resources and the second set … Continue reading Vmware Inc (Patent): IPO 25 Apr 2012
The description in a patent application’s specification must be of an invention. Citations: Ind Summary 28-Nov-1994 Statutes: Patents Act 1977 1(1) 72(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Cited by: Appeal from – Biogen Plc v Medeva Plc HL 31-Oct-1996 The claim patented sought to protect a genetic molecule rather than a whole mouse namely that the … Continue reading Biogen Inc v Medeva Plc: CA 28 Nov 1994
IPO The application relates to an arrhythmia model animal that enables an evaluation of the QT interval prolongation by a drug. The QT interval is the time period which elapses between the Q wave and the T wave in the electrical cycle of the heart. Some drugs can prolonging the electrocardiogram QT interval and induce … Continue reading Ina Research Inc (Patent): IPO 28 Jun 2011
IPO The invention relates to a touch sensitive user interface for an electronic device, for example, a mobile telephone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), MP3 player or similar hand-held device. The application as a whole describes various embodiments whereby gestures or combinations of gestures (e.g. movements of the finger across the surface of a touch-sensitive display … Continue reading Khalil Arafat (Patent): IPO 10 May 2010
IPO The application related to a device for generating electricity by pumping water to an impeller attached to a generator. The hearing officer upheld the examiner’s objection that the invention operated in a manner contrary to well-established physical laws and was therefore neither capable of industrial application nor sufficiently disclosed. Citations: [2008] UKIntelP o26608 Links: … Continue reading Norman Paterson and Nicholas Jones (Patent): IPO 30 Sep 2008
IPO The patent application relates to a golf putter having a measurement scale and sighting means to estimate the distance to the hole. The examiner had objected that new subject matter had been added contrary to section 76, that the invention lacked inventive step in the light of four prior specifications and that it was … Continue reading Hideaki Koiwai (Patent): IPO 31 Dec 2007
IPO Industrial application – The application relates to an arrangement for producing power. The Hearing office held that (i) the invention was not capable of industrial application because its alleged mode of operation was contrary to well-established physical laws, and (ii) that the specification was not sufficient to enable the skilled man to produce a … Continue reading Peter Joseph Crowley (Patent): IPO 1 Aug 2007
It was known for casinos to issue their own identification cards for use by players of gaming machines, but the invention allowed information to be read from a pre-existing card such as a driver’s licence or credit card and used, without decrypting it, to identify whether the player had an account. The claims related to … Continue reading Acres Gaming Incorporated (Patent): IPO 11 Jul 2007
IPO The application relates to a propulsion unit including electric and hydraulic systems alleged to work by using an alternator to maintain a battery at full charge whilst providing further electricity for auxiliary power. Objection was also raised that the invention lacked novelty and/or an inventive step on the basis of two documents. The HO … Continue reading David Duckett and Joan Duckett (Patent): IPO 12 Aug 2005
IPO The claims were directed to a hydrophobic, pyrogenically produced silica having a tamped density of 55-200 g/l, hydrophobised by reaction with a halogen-free silane or siloxane and compacted by a roller compactor or belt filter press. In an oral decision, the hearing officer held that the claims lacked inventive step in the light of … Continue reading Degussa-Huls Ag (Patent): IPO 18 Jun 2004
The application was entitled Hands-free megaphone and claimed a combination of a microphone assembly, a body pack including an output horn secured by a belt around a users body, and a cable connecting the microphone assembly and the body pack. An objection of lack of inventive step was based on a French patent. It was … Continue reading Robert Leonard Carpenter (Patent) O/325/03: IPO 27 Oct 2003
IPO Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step – The four applications all concerned gaming machines typically for use in arcades, in which there was a main game and a bonus game. The specific embodiments differed between the applications, but in all cases the inventions concerned the switching between the main game and bonus game and/or what … Continue reading IGT (Patent) O/211/06: IPO 27 Jul 2006
The claimant sought statutory compensation, having whilst employee of the defendant, created a pump which came to widely used in the testing of diabetic status. Judges: Arnold J Citations: [2014] EWHC 1647 (Pat), [2014] RPC 29, [2014] WLR(D) 242 Links: Bailii, WLRD Statutes: Patents Act 1977 41(1) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: See Also – … Continue reading Shanks v Unilever Plc and Others: PatC 23 May 2014
IPO The two applications relate to a composition for bone health maintenance and a composition for use during lactation, respectively.Prior to considering the inventiveness of the claims of these two applications, the hearing officer addressed the impact of the decision in Human Genome Sciences v Eli Lilly on the relative effects of the jurisprudence of … Continue reading Ajit Lalvani, Kartar Singh Lalvani Robert Taylor (Patent): IPO 23 May 2013
Appeal from a decision rejecting a Patent Application in the name of Fujitsu Ltd. His grounds for rejection were that the subject matter of the application was not an invention for the purposes of the 1977 Act in that it was excluded as a result of the provisions of s. 1(1)(d) and 1(2)(d) as being … Continue reading Fujitsu Ltd, Re Patent Application No. 920495 2: PatC 24 May 1996
Patent properly granted The House considered the patentability of a chemical product, citalopram made up of two enantiomers, as opposed to the process of its creation, questioning whether it could be new or was insufficient within the 1977 Act. Held: The appeal against the patent was dismissed. The separated form, the (+) entantiomer had not … Continue reading Generics (UK) Ltd and others v H Lundbeck A/S: HL 25 Feb 2009
The respondents had applied for and obtained an order to revoke the appellant’s patent of a stent for obvousness. Though the parties had settled, the public law element required the intervention of the Comptroller General. The House was asked about how to identify the concept embodied in the invention which may constitute the ‘inventive step’ … Continue reading Conor Medsystems Inc v Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc and others: HL 9 Jul 2008
Excluded fields (refused) – The invention related to providing a personalized advertising service through portable terminals such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). In the invention, if a particular user wishes a personalized advertisement to be delivered to other users or group members an advertising server can provide the personalized advertisement based on … Continue reading Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (Patent): IPO 17 Dec 2014
IPO The invention is concerned with calibrating sleep clocks from fast clocks in wireless network apparatus, such as mobile telephones. Sleep clocks are low frequency clocks which run while devices are in an energy saving sleep mode; they are prone to frequency drift. Fast clocks are high frequency clocks which run when devices are awake, … Continue reading Renesas Mobile Corporation (Patent): IPO 20 Dec 2013
IPO The invention related to a method of allowing a user to interact with a 3D geoscience object displayed on a computer display. The user identifies a feature of interest in the object and is then able to manipulate the image using two or more control points in 3D space, e.g. to rotate, translate or … Continue reading Logined BV (Patent): IPO 20 Dec 2013
Industrial application – The invention related to a series of bags connected to form a vertical conveyer which rotates over rollers. Bags on the descending side of the conveyer are filled with water, causing the conveyer to rotate as the water-filled bags fall under gravity. Bags on the ascending side of the conveyer are empty, … Continue reading Peter Joseph Crowley (Patent): IPO 27 Sep 2013
The application relates to ‘System and method for super-augmenting a persona to manifest a pan-environment super-cyborg for global governance’. The Hearing Officer considered the application to lack both industrial application and sufficiency and subsequently refused the application. Mrs C L Davies [2013] UKIntelP o40113, GB1213494.6 Bailii Patents Act 1977 1(1)(c) 1493) Intellectual Property Updated: 23 … Continue reading Caleb Suresh Motupalli (Patent) O/401/13: IPO 4 Oct 2013
IPO The application relates to a method of generating a list of cancer drug treatment options based on the status of molecular markers derived from a sample of a tumor in a patient. It is claimed as a method of diagnosing cancer which comprises the steps of interrogating a computer-implemented database and producing a list … Continue reading The Rocket Science Group, Llc (Patent): IPO 7 Jun 2013
The company sought to recover damages from a director who had acted dishonestly, by concealing a financial interest in a different company which had made loans to the claimant company. He replied that the claim was out of time. At first instance the first defendant had been found dishonest through non-disclosure, and that section 21 … Continue reading DEG-Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH v Koshy and Other (No 3); Gwembe Valley Development Co Ltd (in receivership) v Same (No 3): CA 28 Jul 2003
The claimants said that agents of the defendant had unlawfully accessed their mobile phone systems. The court was now asked whether the agent (M) could rely on the privilege against self incrimination, and otherwise as to the progress of the case. The claimant asserted that their claim was an intellectual property claim, allowing section 72 … Continue reading Gray v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another; Coogan v Same: ChD 25 Feb 2011
The claimant appealed against refusal of registration for his patent application. . .
The claim patented sought to protect a genetic molecule rather than a whole mouse namely that the molecule would, if inserted into a suitable host cell, cause the cell to make antigens of the Hepatitis B virus. A recombinant method of making the antigens of a hepatitis virus was patented with a priority date of … Continue reading Biogen Plc v Medeva Plc: HL 31 Oct 1996
In a threat action for trade mark infringement, the plaintiff had only supplied services. The defendant made a general threat without limiting it to proceedings in respect of goods or services. The defendant argued that the threat would be understood as relating only to services, as that is all the plaintiff provided. Held: Section 70 … Continue reading Prince PLC v Prince Sports Group Inc: ChD 1998
