Patent decision

BL number

O/057/19

Concerning rights in

GB2490817

Hearing Officer

Mr B Buchanan

Decision date

28 January 2019

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Masimo Corporation

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 Sections: 1(1), 1(2), 3

Keywords

Claim construction, Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

This decision considers the issue of whether patent application GB1212698.3 is excluded from patentability as a program for a computer and/or a method for doing business. The Hearing Officer also considered whether the claims define an inventive step including whether they define separate integers which provide a mere collocation of features. The application claims a wellness analyser having two modes of operation: a diagnosis mode and a simulation mode for analysing the health of a patient on the basis of information from sensors and databases. The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test and considered the signposts laid out in HTC v Apple and decided that the contribution made by the invention fell solely within excluded subject matter. The Hearing Officer assessed the obviousness of the claims under Windsurfing/Pozzoli and found that they did define an inventive step and that the integers were synergistically linked.

The application was refused as no more than a program for a computer and a method for doing business as such. Three sets of auxiliary claims were considered and also found to be excluded from patentability.

Full decision O/057/19 836Kb