Patent decision

BL number
O/137/16
Concerning rights in
GB1212453.3
Hearing Officer
Mr B Micklewright
Decision date
15 March 2016
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Apple Inc
Provisions discussed
Patents Act 1977 section 1(2)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The invention related to linking a software application that is pre-installed on a client device with a user account, thereby enabling certain acts to be carried out in relation to that application such as updating or reinstalling the application, or installing the application on another client device associated with the user account. A check is made that the application can be linked to the user account and has not previously been linked. Unique identifiers are used in this verification step. The hearing officer considered the main set of claims and also an auxiliary request and concluded that in both cases the claimed invention lay entirely in the excluded fields of a program for a computer as such and a method of doing business as such. He therefore refused the application.

Full decision O/137/16 PDF document110Kb