Patent decision

BL number
O/191/12
Concerning rights in
GB0918198.3
Hearing Officer
Mr S Brown
Decision date
9 May 2012
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Bank of America Corporation
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The application relates to a method of retrieving financial information stored in a first database by using a second database, which contains data referencing the first database, as a dictionary or index. The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test and decided that the contribution made by the invention fell solely within excluded matter. He also considered the Court of Appeal decision in Symbian and the decisions in AT&T & Cvon and Halliburton and concluded that the contribution did not have a relevant technical effect. The application was refused as no more than a program for a computer and a method for doing business as such.

Full decision O/191/12 PDF document78Kb