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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Nexpage Inc (Patent) [2007] UKIntelP o03007 (24 January 2007)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2007/o03007.html
Cite as: [2007] UKIntelP o3007, [2007] UKIntelP o03007
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Nexpage Inc [2007] UKIntelP o03007 (24 January 2007)
For the whole decision click here: o03007
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/030/07
- Concerning rights in
- GB0418176.4
- Hearing Officer
- Mr H Jones
- Decision date
- 24 January 2007
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Nexpage Inc
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 sections 1(2)(c)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to the distribution and dissemination of information to multiple users connected via a computer network, and it addresses the problem of maintaining a definitive version of a data object being edited in parallel by a number of users. A non-destructive data model or atom graph is used to record changes made to the data object by each user, which allows different versions of the data object to co-exist at the same time. A single atom graph is created when the data object is synchronised with other users, which allows all changes made by all users to be recorded and viewed. The Hearing Officer considered the recent Court of Appeal judgment in Aerotel/Macrossan and decided that the actual contribution made by the invention fell solely within the meaning of a computer program. It was not necessary to consider whether the contribution was technical in nature as set out in the fourth step of the Aerotel/Macrossan test. The application was refused.