Patent decision

BL number

O/664/17

Concerning rights in

GB1001877.8

Hearing Officer

Dr J Houlihan

Decision date

21 December 2017

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Ajit Lalvani, KArtar Singh Lalvani and Robert Taylor

Provisions discussed

Section 1(1)(b)

Keywords

Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to the formulation of compositions to alleviate hair loss which comprise at least six and up to seventeen ingredients. Central to the claims are glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate and methyl sulphonyl methane (MSM) and the requirement that the weight of MSM exceeds the combined weight of glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate. The issue in deciding inventive step was whether the ingredients claimed have synergy. The hearing officer applied Sabaf v MFI Furniture Centres Ltd [2005] RPC 10, Glaxo Group Ltd’s Patent [2004] RPC 43 and Richardson Vicks’ Patent [1995] RPC 568 and found that the ingredients claimed represent a collocation as the specification did not provide evidence of synergy between the ingredients, particularly between glucosamine, chondroitin sulphate and MSM. He also found there was no disclosure in the specification of an advantage in the particular proportions claimed for these three ingredients. Applying the Windsurfer/Pozzoli test the hearing officer found that each ingredient represented a separate inventive concept. As each inventive concept was already known in the prior art they each represented the state of the art. The hearing officer therefore held the claims had no inventive step and refused the application.

Full decision O/664/17 122Kb