Patent decision
- BL number
- O/042/19
- Concerning rights in
- GB 1420108.1
- Hearing Officer
- Mr S Brown
- Decision date
- 22 January 2019
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- International Business Machines Corporation
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Section 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application provides a way of detecting the unauthorised bulk transfer of emails from a first network to a second network. It does this by determining an arrival rate for internal emails into one or more accounts within the first network and then undertaking a further determination of emails being sent to an external network. By comparing the arrival and sending rates it is able to identify if mail is being bulk forwarded.
The Hearing Officer applied the reasoning in Aerotel/Macrossan and considered the AT&T/Cvon signposts as modified by HTC v Apple and found that the contribution lay entirely in matter excluded as a program for a computer as such. He also considered the guidance in Merrill Lynch and Halliburton and decided that it was also excluded as a method of doing business.
Full decision O/042/19 264Kb