Patent decision

BL number

O/1020/23

Concerning rights in

GB2013457.3

Hearing Officer

Mr B Buchanan

Decision date

31 October 2023

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Gordon George Baldwin, GKA Rubber & Plastics Ltd; and Daniel Albert Charlesworth

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977, section 1(1)(a)

Keywords

Novelty

Related Decisions

None

Summary

1 The claimed invention relates to a two-part horseshoe having a metal insert within a rubber or plastics outer part which comprises a tread in the form of studs. The hearing officer considered whether the latter feature distinguished the claimed invention over the cited prior art so as to fulfil the requirement for novelty. In essence the questions addressed where whether a compressible podded cleat (in the prior art) constituted a stud, and whether the purpose of a tread was inherently to provide grip. The hearing officer construed the claim to the invention and considered how the skilled person would understand the prior art. He concluded that the claim was broad and there was no support for an interpretation for the studs being essentially incompressible and that a tread, whilst providing grip, was not necessarily limited to that purpose. Consequently the invention was found to lack novelty and the application was refused.

Full decision O/1020/23 271Kb