Patent decision

BL number

O/174/10

Concerning rights in

GB0525899.1

Hearing Officer

Mrs C L Davies

Decision date

27 May 2010

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Marathon Oil Company & Compagnie Generale de Geophysique

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 section 1(2)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a method of determining the values of designated rock and fluid parameters in a subterranean geologic volume and it can be used in prospecting for oil and gas. Predicted values of rock and fluid properties are assigned to a model of the subterranean geology which then calculates a predicted seismic response of the modelled geological volume to produce synthetic data. This synthetic data is then compared with real seismic data. The predicted values which were originally assigned to model are adjusted to reduce the difference between the synthetic and real seismic data. When the difference is minimized or reduced, the adjusted predicted values are considered to be indicative of the real values of rock and fluid parameters. The applicant argued that the method was a form of indirect measurement of rock and fluid parameters rather than a method of improving a model for predicting those parameters.

The hearing officer found that the contribution fell solely within excluded matter and the claims were rejected as a mathematical method and a program for a computer, as such, under sub-sections 1(2)(a) and 1(2)(c) respectively.