Patent decision

BL number

O/179/07

Concerning rights in

GB0508494.2

Hearing Officer

Mrs S E Chalmers

Decision date

26 June 2007

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Translution Ltd.

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 sections 1(2)(c)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a communications system for the automatic translation of electronically transmitted messages eg via email. Messages sent may be directed to a translation system to translate the message into a language of the intended recipient, before being forwarded to the recipient. Similarly messages received, may be directed to a translation system, to translate the message into the language of the recipient, and the translated message forwarded to the recipient.

The Hearing Officer considered the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Aerotel/Macrossan and decided that the actual contribution made by the invention fell solely within the meaning of a computer program. It was not necessary to consider if the contribution was technical in nature as set out in the fourth step of the Aerotel/Macrossan test. The application was refused.

Full decision O/179/07 30Kb