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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> IGT (Patent) [2006] UKIntelP o21106 (27 July 2006)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2006/o21106.html
Cite as: [2006] UKIntelP o21106
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IGT [2006] UKIntelP o21106 (27 July 2006)
For the whole decision click here: o21106
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/211/06
- Hearing Officer
- Mr A C Howard
- Decision date
- 27 July 2006
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- IGT
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Sections 1(1), 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused), Inventive step
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The four applications all concerned gaming machines typically for use in arcades, in which there was a main game and a bonus game. The specific embodiments differed between the applications, but in all cases the inventions concerned the switching between the main game and bonus game and/or what happens in the bonus game. A central question was whether the “rules” of the game are strictly limited to what the player has to do to play the game (e.g. push buttons) or whether rules can be embodied in the operation of the system itself. It was decided that where the programmed responses of the system are an integral part of the game play, this lies in the excluded field of schemes, rules or methods for playing games. In one case (GB0411822.0) an additional objection of lack of inventive step was not upheld.