Patent decision

BL number

O/366/04

Concerning rights in

GB0226984.3 & GB0419317.3

Hearing Officer

Mr H Jones

Decision date

14 December 2004

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

CFPH L.L.C.

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The two applications are concerned with networked interactive wagering on the outcomes of events, with particular emphasis on reducing processing delays to a minimum so that in circumstances where prices are changing continuously, a client is provided with the most up-to-date information before placing a bet. In refusing the application, the hearing officer found that the invention was concerned merely with providing an improved transactional process over a computer network and therefore fell within the business method exclusion of section 1(2). The hearing officer went on to find that the invention did not provide a technical contribution required to make an otherwise excluded invention patentable, the invention in both applications merely representing non-technical changes to a business method in order to overcome technical problems.

Full decision O/366/04 36Kb