Patent decision

BL number

O/364/17

Concerning rights in

GB1423360.5 and GB1609028.4

Hearing Officer

Mr P Mason

Decision date

1 August 2017

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Google inc.

Provisions discussed

PA 1977, Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

This decision concerns patent applications GB1423360.5 and GB1609028.4, both entitled “Adaptive clustering of locations”. It addresses the question of whether the invention set out in each application relates to subject matter excluded under Section 1(2) of the Patents Act 1977. Both applications relate to a computer-implemented methods of creating (for display) a dataset representing geographic regions which meet specified criteria, the geographic regions being defined in relation to the current location of a mobile device and being redefined to account for changes in the device’s location.

The Hearing Officer applied the four step test set out in Aerotel/Macrossan in the light of the Symbian and Halliburton judgements and the AT&T signposts. He found the inventions as claimed re excluded under Section 1(2) because they relate solely to excluded matter, namely to computer programs as such. The applications were refused.

Full decision O/364/17 92Kb