Patent decision
- BL number
- O/357/20
- Concerning rights in
- GB1620705.2
- Hearing Officer
- Mr P Mason
- Decision date
- 21 July 2020
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- The Boeing Company
- Provisions discussed
- Patents Act 1977 section 1(1)(1) (b)
- Keywords
- Inventive step
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to a method of quantifying porosity of a composite structure test part. The invention utilises infra-red thermographic techniques to determine thermal test data of a part. The test data is compared to reference data indicative of perceived part thickness. Porosity is determined by comparison of known thickness with perceived thickness. The hearing officer followed the Windsurfing/Pozzoli steps and considered the common general knowledge of the skilled person. The hearing officer found the inventive concept shared by the claims was inventive when considering the prior art cited by the examiner and the assessed common general knowledge of the skilled person. The application was remitted to the examiner to conclude the processing.
Full decision O/357/20 309Kb