Patent decision

BL number

O/0010/24

Concerning rights in

GB22213917.4

Hearing Officer

Mr H Jones

Decision date

8 January 2024

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Apple Inc.

Provisions discussed

Section 1(2)(c)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention relates to relates to a method of converting a restricted payment account on a portable electronic device (e.g. a smartphone) of a first user to a new primary account. The restricted payment account is a sub-account of a primary account of a second user, for example a parent of the first user. When the first user’s portable electronic device determines that the age of the first user reaches a particular threshold, the first user is presented with a conversion option to enable conversion of the restricted account to a new primary account. The invention is said to improve personal security. The hearing officer found that invention was concerned with a non-technical improvement to a business administration process running on a computing device, so the application was refused under section 18(3).

Full decision O/0010/24 163Kb