Patent decision

BL number
O/254/05
Concerning rights in
GB2385686
Hearing Officer
Mr S Probert
Decision date
14 September 2005
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Oracle Corporation
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)(c)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The invention concerned a method of converting text from one markup language (eg. SGML) to a second markup language (eg. HTML). Existing methods for doing this required a significant amount of user input, but the inventor had found a different way of doing it that removed the need for user input and was consequently much faster.

The Hearing Officer did not accept that the 'little man' test from the CFPH judgment was appropriate in this case, and he applied the two-stage test from CFPH instead. The Hearing Officer also considered the policy reasons behind the computer program exclusion, as stated in CFPH. He concluded that since the claims (if granted) would foreclose computer programs to the public, then the application could not be granted.

The Hearing Officer did not think it was necessary in the light of CFPH to decide whether the invention fitted neatly into one or more of the categories of excluded items in section 1(2). Rather he used the list of excluded items to decide whether the claimed advance could possibly be an 'invention' for the purposes of patent law. He decided that it could not, and so he refused the application.

Full decision O/254/05 PDF document51Kb