Patent decision

BL number

O/147/04

Concerning rights in

GB0128602.0

Hearing Officer

Mr A Bartlett

Decision date

25 May 2004

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

CFPH, L.L.C.

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention relates to a computerised system for trading stocks, shares, currencies and the like. Offers of assets for sale and bids to buy were displayed on each trader's workstation so that they were able to observe and participate in the market. Each bid or offer made could comprise shown and hidden portions, the purpose of which was to allow a trader to register an interest in trading a particular type of asset without having to show the full extent of how much he was prepared to buy or sell. Thus a trader could enter the market place without distorting it. Whilst not specifically claimed, the system described responded dynamically to the conditions existing in the market place to change the priority given to various participants so that traders already active in a market place were given priority in particular trades to the exclusion of others for a very limited time period after a new offer or bid was made.

In refusing the application, the hearing officer found that the system did increase the rate at which transactions were carried out, but that this was achieved not through the computer system operating more efficiently, but through changing the rules of participation in the market. In substance he found that to be a method for doing business and, as it was implemented in software, a program for a computer making no technical contribution.