Patent decision

BL number

O/236/12

Concerning rights in

GB0706549.3

Hearing Officer

Mr A Bartlett

Decision date

15 June 2012

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Padmanabhan Mahalingham

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

2006 EWCA CIV 1371, 2008 EWCA CIV 1066

Summary

The invention concerns a telephone conferencing system of the sort that allows multiple participants to take part in a single telephone discussion from various locations. A first caller initiates the conference call by entering a conference code and security passcode of his own choice and complexity (having agreed the time of the conference and intended usage codes with other potential participants beforehand). Subsequent callers may join the conference by entering the correct usage codes, thereby eliminating the need for conferencing system to pre-allot the codes in response to a preceding conference request.

Applying the Aerotel/Macrossan test, as modified by Symbian, the hearing officer found the contribution to be a new way of administering teleconference calls using a conventional teleconferencing platform and refused the sole independent claim under s.1(2)(c) as method of doing business and a computer program. However, the application was referred back to the examiner for consideration of a dependent claim relating to the alleviation of overloading in the presence of high numbers of conference participants.

Full decision O/236/12 53Kb