Patent decision

BL number
O/163/13
Concerning rights in
GB1018114.7
Hearing Officer
Mrs C L Davies
Decision date
24 April 2013
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
The Washington Post Company
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)(c)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The application relates to a data processing system and method in which tailored content is sent from the data processing system to a user’s computer based on a user record that the user can update. There is a data repository in which information files and their associated metadata are stored and the data processing system is used to selectively retrieve information files from the repository and provide a set of results to the user in the form of an executable document transferred across a network. A two-stage filtering process based upon attributes previously selected by the user is used to selectively retrieve the content which is presented to the user as the executable document when they select one of their “channels”. The user record is modified when the user selects certain mark-up associated with the information file, the mark-up also being displayed as part of the executable document. The user record is also displayed.

The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test in light of Symbian and noting the signposts found in the AT&T/Cvon judgment. The Hearing Officer concluded that the actual contribution did not satisfy any of the signposts and found that the contribution related solely to excluded matter as a computer program as such. The application was refused.

Full decision O/163/13 PDF document89Kb