Patent decision

BL number
O/145/04
Concerning rights in
GB2236610
Hearing Officer
Mr S N Dennehey
Decision date
25 May 2004
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Yeoman Group plc v Trevor Evan Parry
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 section 72(1)(a)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step, Novelty, Revocation
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The patent relates to a sequence of maps to different scales aimed assisting a user in navigating from a remote location to a particular destination. Yeoman Group plc contended that the patent should be revoked for lack of novelty and inventive step on the basis of various prior art maps and atlases and on the evidence of the common knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the field of cartography before the priority date of the patent. Yeoman Group also argued that the patent relates to nothing more than a literary or artistic work or the presentation of information. The patentee filed three sets of amended claims to be considered if the claims in the granted form were found to lack novelty and inventive step. The hearing officer held that the claims of the patent as granted and as proposed lacked novelty and inventive step, and did not need to consider in detail the further ground for revocation, namely exclusion under section 1(2).

Full decision O/145/04 PDF document195Kb