Patent decision

BL number

O/254/19

Concerning rights in

gb1811532.9

Hearing Officer

Mr B Micklewright

Decision date

15 May 2019

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

California Institute of Technology, and Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 sections 15(9) and 76(1)

Keywords

Added subject matter, Divisional application

Related Decisions

None

Summary

This divisional application is divided from GB1507362.0. The invention relates to the field of mass spectrometry and the claim is directed to a method for determining the isotopic composition of an analyte in a sample. The claimed method uses the combination of two mass spectrometers and does not require the first mass spectrometer to be a reverse geometry mass spectrometer (i.e. including a momentum filter followed by an energy filter). The examiner argued that the omission of this requirement contravened section 76(1) and constituted added subject matter when compared to the parent application as originally filed. The application could not therefore proceed as a divisional application. The hearing officer found that the omission of this feature from the claims did indeed constitute added subject matter and therefore, under section 76(1), the application could not proceed as a divisional application unless this added subject matter was removed.

Full decision O/254/19 190Kb