Patent decision

BL number

O/148/07

Concerning rights in

GB 0324470.4

Hearing Officer

Mr J Elbro

Decision date

1 June 2007

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Fisher-Rosemount Systems Inc

Provisions discussed

PA Act 1977 Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (allowed), Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

O/149/07, O/150/07, O/151/07, O/152/07

Summary

The application related to a process control system which used program objects corresponding to components of the process to provide information to an operator. The hearing officer followed the four-step approach to the assessment of patentability under section 1(2) approved by the Court of Appeal in Aerotel/Macrossan [2006] EWCA Civ 1371 in determining whether the invention was excluded from patentability. He held that claims to a workstation with the objects stored on it were excluded as claims to a computer program, but claims to a process control system comprising the objects were held not to be excluded.

Full decision O/148/07 61Kb