Patent decision

BL number

O/277/04

Concerning rights in

GB0217629.5

Hearing Officer

Mr D J Barford

Decision date

15 September 2004

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

eSpeed Inc

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 sections 1(1)(a), 1(1)(b),1(2)(c)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a computer based system which provides matches of offers to sell with offers to buy. For instance a time-share period put on offer by a seller may be matched (or nearly matched) by a number of buyers who between them cover the period on offer.

It was common ground that the principles laid down by the Court of Appeal in Fujitsu Limiteds Application apply. The applicant argued that there was a technical contribution in providing a solution to the problem of enabling a known, but impracticable, business method to be put into effect.

Held that since the business method and the apparatus involved were both known, any technical contribution would have to be provided by the software. Held however that a computer running the software neither produces technical change in an external apparatus (screens displaying matches were not regarded as such) nor causes the computer itself to operate in a technically different way (production of a display simultaneously on a number of screens was not regarded as such).

In consequence the application was held to be excluded from patentability as a program for a computer as such.