Patent decision

BL number

O/358/06

Concerning rights in

GB2335687

Hearing Officer

Mr P Hayward

Decision date

11 December 2006

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Smith International v Specialised Petroleum Services

Provisions discussed

Section 72, Section 75, Section 65

Keywords

Certificate of contested validity, Revocation

Related Decisions

O/352/04

Summary

The defendant had succeeded at the High Court in overturning the original decision before the Patent Office that the proposed amended claim 1 lacked novelty. This decision was overturned at the High Court and an appeal by the claimant against the High Court judgment was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The defendant submitted revised claims to be considered before the Patent Office including a clarifying amendment to claim 1, deletion of a claim which was disallowed in the earlier Patent Office proceedings owing to added matter, and amendments to the dependencies of some subordinate claims. The defendant had also requested a certificate of contested validity. The hearing officer ordered that the patent should be amended as requested and granted a certificate of contested validity.

Full decision O/358/06 25Kb