Patent decision

BL number
O/625/22
Concerning rights in
GB 1912576.4
Hearing Officer
Miss J Pullen
Decision date
22 July 2022
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Walmart Apollo, LLC
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)(c)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The application relates generally to the field of supply chain management systems; and more specifically, to systems and methods for the routing of received shipments. The invention provides systems and methods for enabling efficient sorting and routing of the contents of received shipments that reduce the lifting and movement of product by unloaders and automatically update upstream and downstream systems based on the actual received goods.

The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan four step test, considered the AT&T/CVON signposts and found that the identified contribution of the independent claims did not make a technical contribution and that the claims are excluded from patentability as a computer program as such. The application was refused under section 18(3).

Full decision O/625/22 PDF document1.08Mb