Patent decision

BL number

O/212/09

Concerning rights in

GB0524300.1 and GB0712055.3

Hearing Officer

Mr B Micklewright

Decision date

17 July 2009

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Dell Products L.P.

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 sections 1(1)(b) and 3

Keywords

Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

Parent application 0524300.1 and divisional application 0712055.3 both related to a router with wireless local area network (LAN) components and cellular wireless wide area network (WAN) components. The examiner had objected to the inventions of both applications as lacking an inventive step. The applicant filed a number of main and auxiliary requests on both applications for consideration at the hearing. The parent application involved a router which included a detachable wireless cellular (i.e. a mobile phone) which enabled communication with the cellular WAN when connected to the router and enabled voice communication when detached from the router. The hearing officer found this invention to be inventive over the closest prior art cited, but identified an argument which had not previously been considered and so referred the case back to the examiner for consideration of that argument. The divisional application related to a router with a VoIP module. Various auxiliary requests added a Quality of Service (QoS) module and features relating to the choice and use of a particular SIM into the router. The hearing officer found all the claims of the various requests to lack an inventive step over the closest prior art and the common general knowledge of the person skilled in the art at the priority date of the application in suit. He therefore refused the divisional application.

Full decision O/212/09 313Kb