Patent decision

BL number
O/297/04
Concerning rights in
GB0123766.8
Hearing Officer
Mr A Bartlett
Decision date
29 September 2004
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Adgistics Limited
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 section 1(2)(c)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The application concerned a system for making advertisement design and send functions more efficient. The crux of the applicants case was that using a computer network to allow central storage of information regarding advertisement designs and publication requirements (like lead times) reduced the overall hardware requirements. The applicants argued that by saving hardware resources, the invention addressed and solved one of the most challenging technical problems facing anyone implementing a computer system. In so doing they argued that the invention made the technical contribution required to make an otherwise excluded item patentable.

In refusing the application, the hearing officer found that the benefits obtained were precisely those you would expect to achieve by using a computer network to do what was previously done using stand alone computers and that there was no technical contribution. Consequently he found the invention to relate to a method for doing business and a program for a computer as such.

Full decision O/297/04 PDF document36Kb