Patent decision

BL number

O/0390/25

Concerning rights in

GB2214412.5

Hearing Officer

Mr S Brown

Decision date

30 April 2025

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(1)(b) & 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application concerns an augmented reality video game, with an objective of the game being for players to gather at a particular real world place. A system monitors player location in the real world and determines whether a gathering event is successful by checking whether enough players have reached a specified location.

The Hearing Officer applied the reasoning in Aerotel/Macrossan and considered the AT&T/Cvon signposts. He found that the contribution lay entirely in matter excluded as a combination of a program for a computer and a method for playing a game, as such.

Having decided that the claims were excluded, the Hearing Officer declined to consider the issue of inventive step.

The application was refused under section 18(3).

Full decision O/0390/25 208Kb