Patent decision

BL number
O/109/12
Concerning rights in
GB 0802859.9
Hearing Officer
Mr A Bartlett
Decision date
8 March 2012
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Office Add-On Limited
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The invention related to a method of sending an email in a communications systems in which images (such as company logos) contained within the signature block of an email are converted to html dots. This is so that anti-spam and anti-virus filters do not remove the images from the email or class the entire email as spam. At the hearing the Hearing Officer was asked to consider the scope of the exclusions in relation to the Travaux Preparatoires. It was also put to the Hearing Officer that as the invention concerned image processing, then it must be patentable following Vicom. The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test and also considered the judgments in Symbian and AT&T & Cvon. After considering the AT&T & Cvon signposts, the Hearing Officer concluded that the invention did not make a technical contribution and refused the application as the invention related to a program for a computer as such.

Full decision O/109/12 PDF document84Kb