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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Apputharai Chandrakumar and Kulanathan Kularajan (Patent) [2007] UKIntelP o35907 (7 December 2007)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2007/o35907.html
Cite as: [2007] UKIntelP o35907
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Apputharai Chandrakumar and Kulanathan Kularajan [2007] UKIntelP o35907 (7 December 2007)
For the whole decision click here: o35907
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/359/07
- Concerning rights in
- GB 0228165.7
- Hearing Officer
- Mr R C Kennell
- Decision date
- 7 December 2007
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Apputharai Chandrakumar and Kulanathan Kularajan
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Section 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The invention computerised the playing of “chit fund” games (traditional in SE Asia, in which a specified number of subscribers contribute to a fund on a number of subscription dates and then make bids for the total fund) to make them more flexible and attractive, eg for business purposes. Amongst other things, computerisation allowed a creditworthiness check on subscribers to be made at a remote server. Applying the test in Aerotel [2006] EWCA Civ 1371 and refusing the application, the hearing officer held that the contribution was not a new combination of hardware, but was a new way of playing a game relying on the programming of standard computer hardware items. Nothing in the contribution was not excluded as a computer program, a method of playing a game or a business method.