Patent decision

BL number

O/146/05

Concerning rights in

GB 2331295

Hearing Officer

Mr P Back

Decision date

26 May 2005

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Spears Limited v Skerra Pty Limited

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 72

Keywords

Revocation

Related Decisions

[2004] UKIntelP o23604

Summary

The patent concerns a valve (known as a spear) for filling and emptying beer kegs. The inside of the valve body has a chamber shaped with a narrowing section followed by a diversion plate at its outlet so that beer flowing into the keg during filling is directed onto the diversion plate and is deflected sideways to reduce turbulence during filling. The claimant alleged this was known in the light of various physical examples and drawings of prior valves which had similar structure. However there was little in the way of textual disclosure, expert evidence or experimental evidence to support the claimant’s interpretation of the operation of the prior valves. The term "diversion plate" in the main claim was construed by the hearing officer to mean a plate which diverts substantially the whole of the flow laterally. The hearing officer also decided that the narrowing of the fluid guide and the diversion plate were cooperating structures and not simply a collocation of features. The prior art was not found to demonstrate that the inventive construction was known or obvious. Costs were awarded above the comptroller’s normal scale in view of unnecessary delay by the claimant in assembling its case, which occasioned adjournment of the original hearing.