Patent decision

BL number

O/085/06

Concerning rights in

GB 0307747.6

Hearing Officer

Mr A C Howard

Decision date

24 March 2006

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Muchiu Chang

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Sections 1(1) and 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step, Novelty

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application concerned a system and method for optimising the design of a generic product using a mathematical model to which multiple samples based on a range of market information are applied. The single embodiment comprised modelling a computer network having client-server architecture, which network may be used for accessing multimedia data, or for on-line gaming. All claims were found to lack novelty or inventive step having regard to the single citation, a presentation given at a conference which described a method of product design in which customer market information and design attributes are used to determine the characteristics of a potential product (such as product life) using a "Monte Carlo" simulation.

In concluding that no amendment was possible to save the application, the Hearing Officer found that in essence the contribution made by the invention was to provide information about design options which are likely to be successful in the market place. The described method and system would not necessarily result in a novel, or even improved, product. Such a system would inevitably fall under at least one of the categories of excluded matter of mental act, program for a computer and/or method of doing business.