Patent decision

BL number

O/175/11

Concerning rights in

GB0508793.7

Hearing Officer

Mrs C L Davies

Decision date

24 May 2011

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Aesir Limited

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(1)(b)

Keywords

Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

1 The application relates to a craft employing a rotor whose fluid output is directed over a dome or canopy and thus diverted from a radial to an axial direction creating lift or thrust. More particularly the invention is concerned with improving the stability of such craft by means of the angular inertia or angular momentum of the rotating parts.

2 The Hearing Officer, following the structured approach set out in Windsurfing International Inc. v Tabur Marine (Great Britain) Ltd, [1985] RPC 59 and as reformulated by Jacob LJ in Pozzoli SPA v BDMO SA [2007] EWCA Civ 588 (see paragraph 23 of the Court of Appeal’s judgment) found that the invention as claimed in claim 1 lacked an inventive step. The Hearing Officer however provided the applicant with an opportunity to file amendments to the claims to overcome the outstanding inventive step objection.

Full decision O/175/11 191Kb