Patent decision

BL number

O/310/10

Concerning rights in

GB0519086.3

Hearing Officer

Miss J Pullen

Decision date

31 August 2010

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Avago Technologies ECBU IP (Singapore) PTE. Ltd

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Sections 1(1)(b) and 14(5)(c)

Keywords

Inventive step, Support

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention relates to a foldable mobile telephone having two modes of operation (on and off). A mechanism decides whether the device is in an open or closed position by detecting when the light from a photo emitter which is reflected back onto a photo detector is above a threshold value, and consequently which mode of operation should be used. The device can then benefit from reduced power consumption when in a closed state.

The Hearing Officer found support for a specific threshold level to be implicit in the specification as filed. The Hearing Officer then applied the steps of the Windsurfing test, as reformulated in Pozzoli, and found the main claim to lack an inventive step. No saving amendment could be found and so the Hearing Officer refused the application under Section 18(3).

Full decision O/310/10 146Kb