Patent decision
- BL number
- O/186/16
- Concerning rights in
- GB1214580.1
- Hearing Officer
- Mrs C L Davies
- Decision date
- 12 April 2016
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Pierce Biotechnology, Inc. and Dyomics GmbH
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Sections 1(1)(b)
- Keywords
- Inventive step
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to benzocyanine compounds that are useful as labels in optical determination and detection methods. Typical application methods are based on the reaction of the compounds with biomolecules. Thus, among other embodiments, the compounds are used to measure enzyme kinetics, receptor-ligand interactions and nucleic acid hybridization kinetics in vitro and/or in vivo. The compounds are used for the pharmacological characterization of receptors and/or drugs.
The hearing officer found that the invention lacks an inventive step on the basis that the claims relate to an arbitrary selection from the prior art, as the technical effect relied upon by the Applicants is not rendered plausible by the patent specification. Therefore, the alleged technical effect cannot be taken into account when assessing inventive step. The application was refused under section 18(3).
Full decision O/186/16 
147Kb
