IPO The invention related to the generation of an index of financial entities for the passive management of a securities portfolio. Applying the Aerotel test in the light of Symbian, the hearing officer held that the contribution was the generation of an index which was built and non-equally weighted on the basis of metrics which did not depend on market capitalization or share price, thus avoiding the volatility inherent in conventional market capitalization-based indexes. Refusing the application, he held that the contribution was solely a business method (analogous to the Macrossan invention in Aerotel) and (in the light of Symbian) a mental act but not solely a mathematical method or computer program, and was not technical in nature. The hearing officer did not accept (i) that the commercial success of the invention and its recognition as a significant advance by industry experts were relevant to whether the invention was excluded, (ii) that because the invention might be said to result in a ‘tradeable product’ it avoided exclusion, or (iii) that because the invention required the technical skills of a ‘financial engineer’ to devise it the contribution became technical in nature.
Citations:
[2009] UKIntelP o03209
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Intellectual Property
Updated: 21 October 2022; Ref: scu.457283