Patent decision

BL number
O/400/09
Concerning rights in
GB2337684
Hearing Officer
Mr J Elbro
Decision date
24 December 2009
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Strix Ltd and Otter Controls Ltd
Provisions discussed
Patents Act 1977 Section 27
Keywords
Amendment, Costs, Oppositions
Related Decisions
O/344/08

Summary

The patentee sought to amend its patent for a heater in the form of a printed track, used in vessels for heating liquid. The opponent opposed on the grounds that the amendments would be an intermediate generalisation and hence add matter to the specification. The hearing officer found that on the correct construction of the amended claims there was no intermediate generalisation and therefore allowed the amendment. He awarded costs on the usual scale to the patentee.

Full decision O/400/09 PDF document260Kb