Patent decision

BL number

O/329/05

Concerning rights in

GB 0308726.9

Hearing Officer

Mr A Bartlett

Decision date

20 December 2005

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Fair, Isaac and Company, Incorporated

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 section 1

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

In an online transaction, security procedures often require a user to be asked a number of questions so as to prevent fraud. Increasing the number of questions asked brings added security, but also brings with it a risk that the customer will lose patience and give up before a transaction is completed. The application is concerned with providing a mechanism for deciding the questions to be put to potential customers to strike the optimum balance between security and customer friendliness.

In refusing the application, The Hearing Officer concluded that the advance resided in the particular way the system determined the information to be requested from a potential customer. This advance was felt to be in an excluded field as being a scheme, rule or method for doing business.

The Hearing Officer further considered that in substance, the claimed invention was a computer program. In accordance with the CFPH judgment computer programs should not be foreclosed to the public and therefore the present application was also excluded as a program for a computer.