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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Symbian Ltd (Patent) [2007] UKIntelP o20907 (30 July 2007)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2007/o20907.html
Cite as: [2007] UKIntelP o20907
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Symbian Ltd [2007] UKIntelP o20907 (30 July 2007)
For the whole decision click here: o20907
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/209/07
- Concerning rights in
- GB 0325145.1
- Hearing Officer
- Mrs S E Chalmers
- Decision date
- 30 July 2007
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Symbian Ltd
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Section 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to a method of operating a computing device to access data held in a dynamic link library (DLL) which has two parts, each part containing a number of functions. In operation, an executable program directly links to the functions in the first part through the ordinal numbers. To access the functions in the second part, the executable program links to the DLL indirectly through an interface which comprises a further library containing additional functions. The provision of the interface enables an executable program to access the functionality available on the computing device, regardless of any additions or amendments made to the available functionality by a third party. The hearing officer applied the four part test set out in the Aerotel and Macrossan judgment, found the invention to be excluded as a computer program, and refused the application.