Patent decision

BL number
O/094/00
Concerning rights in
GB 2254739
Hearing Officer
Mr S N Dennehey
Decision date
14 March 2000
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Bowthorpe plc v Raychem Ltd
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 sections 29, 72
Keywords
Inventive step, Revocation, Surrender
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The claimants applied for revocation of the GB patent on the grounds that the invention as defined in the claims was not inventive relative to identified prior art. The proprietors of the patent, Raychem Ltd, indicated that they did not wish to contest the application for revocation and offered to surrender the patent. Nevertheless, the claimants wished for revocation proceedings to continue. On the papers, the Hearing Officer considered that at least one ground for revocation had been made out on the basis of lack of inventive step, and since this was uncontested, it was sufficient for revocation of the patent to succeed. The offer of surrender was therefore declined and the patent revoked.

Full decision O/094/00 PDF document14Kb