Patent decision

BL number

O/510/12

Concerning rights in

GB0914884.2

Hearing Officer

Mr S Brown

Decision date

21 December 2012

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Fisher-Rosemount Systems Inc.

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 1(2) & 76(2)

Keywords

Added subject matter, Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a method of operating a process plant by responding to information presented in reports. The reports are produced automatically by extracting historical process control data from databases and synchronising it with other data. The Hearing Officer applied the Aerotel/Macrossan test and decided that the contribution made by the invention fell solely within excluded matter. He also considered the decision in AT&T Knowledge Ventures LP and CVON and concluded that the contribution did not have a relevant technical effect. The application was refused as no more than a program for a computer and a method for doing business as such.

Full decision O/510/12 73Kb