Patent decision

BL number

O/272/20

Concerning rights in

GB1515574.0

Hearing Officer

Mr H Jones

Decision date

5 May 2020

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Christopher Dalton and Paul Innocenzi

Provisions discussed

Section 1(1)(a)

Keywords

Novelty

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates a system for alerting the driver of a vehicle that the vehicle has just been refuelled and that they now need to pay before inadvertently driving away. The system detects an increase in the level of fuel in the fuel tank and issues a visual or audible alert within the vehicle as a prompt that payment is necessary. The hearing officer found that a US patent application disclosing a more elaborate system which placed the vehicle into a low power/speed state after a warning period had elapsed without payment anticipated the invention as presently claimed. The examiner had suggested amendment to overcome the objection might be possible and the hearing officer agreed, inviting the applicants to file such amendments as soon as possible or else the application would be refused.

Full decision O/272/20 187Kb