Patent decision

BL number
O/064/12
Concerning rights in
GB0904722.6
Hearing Officer
Mr B Micklewright
Decision date
15 February 2012
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
The Nielsen Company (US), LLC
Provisions discussed
Patents Act 1977 section 1(2)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The application related to a method of identifying images in printed media by using image feature vectors as representations of images to match an image with images in a database. In an amendment proposed at the hearing the applicant’s attorney argued that the invention resulted in a more efficient system for matching the images. The hearing officer however found that the invention claimed in both the claims under consideration at the hearing and in the proposed amendments to these claims related to a program for a computer as such and was therefore excluded from patentability. He therefore refused the application.

Full decision O/064/12 PDF document66Kb