Patent decision

BL number

O/084/07

Concerning rights in

GB 2 376 437

Hearing Officer

Mr P Marchant

Decision date

26 March 2007

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Bestplate Limited and Hills Numberplates Limited

Provisions discussed

PA Act 1977 Section 72 (1)(a)

Keywords

Revocation

Related Decisions

O/066/05, O/293/05, O/324/05, O/130/06

Summary

Bestplate Limited sought revocation of Patent Number GB2376437 in the light of prior publication in WO 94/19769 and other prior art. They argued that the method of number plate manufacture, which consisted of printing in reverse on a thin transparent film, and adhering the film to a rigid retro-reflective substrate was obvious, particularly in the light of the extensive common general knowledge and the simple mechanical elements and operations in the claims. Claim 13 was accepted by Hills during the hearing to lack inventive step, but the other independent claims were found to be inventive. Hills were given the opportunity to amend by deleting the invalid claim.

Full decision O/084/07 110Kb