Patent decision

BL number

O/214/09

Concerning rights in

GB0621389.6

Hearing Officer

Mr P Thorpe

Decision date

17 July 2009

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Fisher-Rosemount Systems Inc.

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention relates to a method of modifying process control data by converting it first to a “format-neutral” data format, in this case extensible mark-up language (“XML”). The format-neutral data can then be converted into a variety of further formats for editing purposes. The use of the intermediary “format neutral” XML reduces for example the number of custom scripts or programs that are needed.

Applying the Aerotel/Macrossan test, the hearing officer decided that the contribution made by the invention fell solely within excluded matter. The application was refused as being a progam for a computer as such.

Full decision O/214/09 166Kb