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 PDF document56Kb