Patent decision
- BL number
- O/031/07
- Concerning rights in
- GB0421741.0
- Hearing Officer
- Mr B Westerman
- Decision date
- 29 January 2007
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 sections 1(2)(c)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to a computer-aided design tool intended for use in designing, for example, nuclear or thermal power plants. A three-dimensional CAD system includes a parts table in spreadsheet format, and an arrangement adjusting unit and a parts editor to change the data stored about the parts using data about sub-parts. The Hearing Officer considered the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Aerotel/Macrossan and decided that the actual contribution made by the invention fell solely within the meaning of a computer program. It was not necessary to consider whether the contribution was technical in nature as set out in the fourth step of the Aerotel/Macrossan test. The application was refused.
Full decision O/031/07 24Kb