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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> John Lahiri Khan (Patent) [2006] UKIntelP o35606 (11 December 2006) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2006/o35606.html Cite as: [2006] UKIntelP o35606 |
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For the whole decision click here: o35606
Summary
The application related to a system for effecting introductions, for the purpose of making friends or dating, by means of a device (especially a ring) which was distinctive in appearance so that it could be identifiable as being for the purpose of effecting introductions. Following the four-step approach to the assessment of patentability under section 1(2) approved by the Court of Appeal in Aerotel/Macrossan [2006] EWCA Civ 1371, the hearing officer considered that the contribution made by the invention was the use of a device for effecting introductions in a way which need not be limited to predetermined encounters but also embraced random encounters.
He held this contribution to be excluded under section 1(2) as being in substance a method for doing business in the light of Aerotel/Macrossan because of the need for some underlying system, rules or protocol to ensure that the device would be identified as being for the intended purpose; but that if he was wrong on that the invention was nevertheless still excluded as the presentation of information (but not as a method for performing a mental act). It was not accordingly necessary to consider whether the contribution was of a technical nature. The hearing officer did not consider that supplementing the device with, eg, a set of cards to help determine compatibility would take the invention outside the excluded areas.
The hearing officer also held that a method of effecting introductions for the purpose of making friends was not capable of industrial application under section 4(1).
