Patent decision
- BL number
- O/546/21
- Concerning rights in
- GB1721517.9
- Hearing Officer
- Mr P Mason
- Decision date
- 21 July 2021
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Interbird Co Ltd
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Section 1(2)(c)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application concerns retrieving data relating to semiconductor parts from a created database of semiconductor part information. The database of semiconductor part information is created by automatically extracting information from inputted manufacturer’s specifications for semiconductor parts. The created database can be searched by a user entering a query term for a semiconductor part. If the entered query term has no direct matches in the database the invention uses a so called “last alphabet deletion algorithm” upon the entered query term to create alternative query terms. The alternative query terms may retrieve semiconductor parts which start, end, or contain the entered query term, or part of it.
The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test and considered the signposts laid out in HTC v Apple. The Hearing Officer was not convinced by the arguments that the computer was working in a new way or that the computer was working more efficiently or effectively as a computer and decided that the contribution made by the invention was excluded as a program for a computer as such. The application was refused under section 18(3).
Full decision O/546/21 
290Kb
