Patent decision

BL number

O/017/10

Concerning rights in

Patent application GB 0803988.5

Hearing Officer

Dr J E Porter

Decision date

19 January 2010

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

William Egan

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 section 1(1)(a) and 1(1)(b)

Keywords

Inventive step, Novelty

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention concerns a device for controlling or preventing the spread of infections or contamination in a hospital. It is an apparatus which includes a dispenser containing soap or another cleansing or sanitising agent. A person is required to operate the dispenser before a door to or from a hospital ward can be opened, and a feature of the apparatus is that the switch or other device for providing a signal confirming that the dispenser has been operated is located within the dispenser part of the apparatus itself. The hearing officer found the invention to lack both novelty and an inventive step in light of the prior art documents at issue, but that some of the alternative claims put forward for consideration at the hearing were not shown to lack novelty or an inventive step by those prior art documents. The applicant was given 2 months in which to file amendments to the claims, otherwise the application was to be refused under section 18(3).