Patent decision

BL number

O/160/17

Concerning rights in

GB1111103.6 (GB2492373)

Hearing Officer

Mr B Buchanan

Decision date

4 April 2017

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

McAlpine & Co Limited

Provisions discussed

Section 1(1)(b)

Keywords

Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

1 The invention relates to an air admittance valve for a waste water system to allow water sealed plumbing traps to work correctly and to prevent siphonage of the water seal that could permit sewer gases to enter the building. The valve has an air pressure actuated seal element and a transparent portion of the housing to allow inspection of the internal workings of the valve without necessitating disassembly.

The hearing officer considered whether the combination of claimed features defined an inventive step over the prior art. In so doing he applied the test set out in Windsurfing/Pozzoli .He found that the claimed features defining the inventive concept would be obvious to a person skilled in the art, and noted that the claim as drafted was ambiguous as to the purpose of the transparent portion. The application was remitted for further processing because the features of claim four, if introduced into claim one would provide both clarification of the invention and an inventive step. The Applicant had previously requested the opportunity to amend the claims if appropriate and the hearing officer had previously indicated that an extension to the compliance period, if requested in time and accompanied by the appropriate fee, would be allowed.

Full decision O/160/17 135Kb