Patent decision

BL number
O/107/13
Concerning rights in
GB1003773.7
Hearing Officer
Mrs C L Davies
Decision date
6 March 2013
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
eBay
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)(c)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The application relates to a system for enabling a user to access access controlled data. The invention is based on using a so-called "peer-to-peer" network and allows a user to pass on to another user a media file that they have downloaded. That further user can then request permission to play the file without having to start again by downloading the file from a server, the request however naturally involving a payment. What allows the user to play the file is data incorporated into a "header" which is separated from the main data of the media file, i.e. the music/video data itself.

The Hearing Officer applied the four step test set out in Aerotel/Macrossan in the light of the Symbian judgments and the AT&T signposts and found that the invention is excluded under Section 1(2) because it relates solely to excluded matter, namely to a computer program and a business method as such. The application was refused.

Full decision O/107/13 PDF document112Kb