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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Christopher Mark Dale (Patent) [2007] UKIntelP o27507 (18 September 2007)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2007/o27507.html
Cite as: [2007] UKIntelP o27507
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Christopher Mark Dale [2007] UKIntelP o27507 (18 September 2007)
For the whole decision click here: o27507
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/275/07
- Concerning rights in
- GB 0400838.9
- Hearing Officer
- Mrs S E Chalmers
- Decision date
- 18 September 2007
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Christopher Mark Dale
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Sections 1(1)(b) and 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to apparatus for playing a game. The apparatus comprises a display area providing a number of game play areas which are arranged in stages. All stages are visible to the player at the same time and each stage is associated with a prize and a winning or losing area is revealed by removing an obscuring means. The stages are arranged such that the chance of losing increases as the player progresses through the stages. On winning a stage, the player can therefore choose to stick at that particular prize level or can decide to continue the game and take a gamble on the outcome of the next stage. The apparatus may be a scratch card, a machine as may be found in amusement arcades or a computer connected to the internet.
The hearing officer applied the four part test set out in the Aerotel and Macrossan judgment, found the invention to be excluded as a method of playing a game and the presentation of information, and refused the application. She also held that the claimed invention was obvious and therefore refused the application as lacking an inventive step.