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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> John Darrell Foley (Patent) [2008] UKIntelP o30308 (7 November 2008)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2008/o30308.html
Cite as: [2008] UKIntelP o30308
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John Darrell Foley [2008] UKIntelP o30308 (7 November 2008)
For the whole decision click here: o30308
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/303/08
- Concerning rights in
- GB 0408527.0
- Hearing Officer
- Mr R C Kennell
- Decision date
- 7 November 2008
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- John Darrell Foley
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 sections 1(1), 76(2)
- Keywords
- Added subject matter, Inventive step, Novelty
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application disclosed a traction and exercise apparatus for relief particularly of lower back pain, in which a ladder was provided on a frame so that the patient could ascend, descend, bend or twist whilst under traction from above and/or below from springs attached at one end to the frame and at the other to a belt around the user’s torso. The hearing officer held that insofar as the scope of the invention could be determined, it was not new and did not involve an inventive step having regard to an earlier application by the a same applicant, the only differences being relatively minor modifications such as would be made by the skilled person as part of the common general knowledge in the art. The applicant’s proposed amendment was not allowable because it disclosed features which were clearly not present in the application as originally filed. Since there was nothing new or inventive in the in the original disclosure, the hearing officer found that it was not possible to amend the application and refused the application.