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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Rok Corporation Limited (Patent) [2006] UKIntelP o30706 (26 October 2006)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2006/o30706.html
Cite as: [2006] UKIntelP o30706
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Rok Corporation Limited [2006] UKIntelP o30706 (26 October 2006)
For the whole decision click here: o30706
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/307/06
- Concerning rights in
- GB0315289.9
- Hearing Officer
- Mr A Bartlett
- Decision date
- 26 October 2006
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Rok Corporation Limited
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 section 1(2)(c)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The claims concern a system allowing a user to play a computerised version of a game (e.g. a fruit machine game) on a mobile telephone or similar device. At the user’s request, outcomes of the game are generated at a central server and downloaded to the client’s device. Upon a further request from the user to play the game, the outcomes are displayed on the user’s device e.g. as a computer simulation of the reels of the fruit machine. This arrangement is claimed to provide an advance in that the mobile handset does not need to be in communication with the central server at the exact time of play.
The Hearing Officer followed the approach formulated by Mr Peter Prescott QC in CFPH LLC’s Application [2006] RPC 5 and also followed that judgment’s endorsement of the ‘circumvention’ argument from Hitachi T0258/03 in finding that the claimed invention did not solve a technical problem, but rather circumvented it by making changes to the administration of the game play process. In light of this, no advance in a non excluded field was found, and the application was refused.