Patent decision

BL number

O/580/17

Concerning rights in

GB1202345.3

Hearing Officer

Mr S Brown

Decision date

20 November 2017

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Xerox Corporation

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a tactile user interface utilising a “virtual bridge” to populate a “virtual magnet” with text highlighted in a document being viewed. The virtual magnet allows queries to be performed without the need for either a physical or a virtual keyboard. The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test and considered the signposts laid out in HTC v Apple and decided that the contribution made by the invention fell solely within excluded matter. He also briefly considered the decisions in Gemstar and Autonomy. The application was refused as no more than a program for a computer as such.

Full decision O/580/17 88Kb