Patent decision

BL number

O/193/04

Concerning rights in

GB0100088.4

Hearing Officer

Mr A Bartlett

Decision date

6 July 2004

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Alan J Venner et al

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 section 1(2).

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

[2004] UKIntelP o10604

Summary

The application concerns an automated system for reminding clients of tasks requiring action e.g. patent renewals. The system comprises a record such as a database containing information relating to the approach of task due dates for a number of separate clients and a server for receiving task performance instructions. A messaging process is run at regular intervals eg once per month such that an electronic message is sent to a client if (and only if) a due date for that client falls within a set period from the time the messaging process is run. No message is sent to a client if no due date falls within the specified period for that client. Moreover, and this is crucial to the invention, if more than one due date falls in the period for a client, (s)he still only receives one electronic message. That electronic message contains a hypertext link (or other means not requiring user input of a locator) to allow the client to request a page from the server through which they can input instructions to perform each of the tasks that are due.

In refusing the application, the hearing officer decided that the invention related to subject matter that was excluded under section 1(2) and, more specifically, that in substance it was a program for a computer and a method for doing business. Moreover, he found the invention failed to make the technical contribution required to make an otherwise excluded invention patentable. The problems which the invention sought to overcome were ones of human fallibility and the reduction in email traffic produced resulted from instigating administratively convenient processes rather than through any new signalling regime.