Patent decision
- BL number
- O/327/11
- Concerning rights in
- GB0622187.3
- Hearing Officer
- Miss J Pullen
- Decision date
- 26 September 2011
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Section 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The invention relates to a computer implemented design support tool. The tool supports the editing of layout design data, which has been classified into several discrete areas, which appears to be analogous to a database. The tool also allows the designer to create and edited the layout using simple universal diagrams rather than 2D or 3D CAD representations, but then allows the design output to be converted to 2D or 3D CAD representations.
The Hearing Officer considered the four-step test in Aerotel/Macrossan in the light of the Symbian judgment. The Hearing Officer found the contribution lay solely within the excluded fields, found no technical effect and so refused the application as a computer program under Section 18(3).
Full decision O/327/11 56Kb