Patent decision

BL number

O/056/13

Concerning rights in

GB1014714.8

Hearing Officer

Mr S Brown

Decision date

4 February 2013

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Lantana Ltd

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to retrieving data from a remote computer using e-mail. A local computer sends a first e-mail containing machine-readable retrieval criteria and the remote computer responds with an e-mail containing the requested data. The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test and decided that the contribution made by the invention fell solely within excluded matter. He also considered the decisions in IGT/Acres Gaming , Gemstar v Virgin and in AT&T Knowledge Ventures LP and CVON and concluded that the contribution did not have a relevant technical effect. The application was refused as no more than a program for a computer as such.

Full decision O/056/13 70Kb