IPO The patent concerns an electric lawnmower, with a spool holder for storing the electric cable integrally formed on an outside surface of the grass-box. The validity of some of the claims was challenged on the basis of a prototype lawnmower kept in Mr Stockley’s garage, that he showed to his neighbour approximately two months before the priority date of the patent.
The hearing officer found that the circumstances of the disclosure by Mr Stockley to his neighbour constituted making it available to the public, so it formed part of the state of the art. Other individuals who saw the invention were found to be under an obligation of confidentiality – express or implied.
The purpose of Mr Stockley’s prototype was to develop a retractable lawnmower cable that feeds and rewinds as necessary to keep the cable off the ground when in use (to reduce the possibility of cutting through the cable). Although this was not quite the same as the purpose of Husqvarna’s invention, which was to provide a means of storing the cable on a lawnmower when not in use, the hearing officer concluded that the inventive concept in the claim was not so limited, and he decided (using Windsurfing and Pozzoli) that the differences between the prior art (Mr Stockley’s prototype) and the inventive concept in claims 1 and 3 would have been obvious to the skilled person. He allowed the patentee a period of time to amend under Section 75, failing which the patent would be revoked. A decisions on costs was deferred.
Citations:
[2009] UKIntelP o40209
Links:
Intellectual Property
Updated: 21 October 2022; Ref: scu.457553