Patent decision

BL number

O/597/15

Concerning rights in

GB1306420.9 and GB1314852.3

Hearing Officer

Mr S Brown

Decision date

18 December 2015

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Hitachi Ltd

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

Both applications relate to revising railway timetables for multiple trains whilst they are en-route. Given the similarity in subject matter the applicants asked for one hearing to cover both applications. The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel test and decided that the contributions made by both inventions fell solely within excluded matter. He also considered the decisions in AT&T Knowledge Ventures LP and CVON and HTC Europe Co. Ltd. v Apple Inc. and concluded that the contributions did not have relevant technical effects. Both applications were refused as no more than programmes for a computer as such.

Full decision O/597/15 115Kb