For the whole decision click here: o42210
Summary
The application relates to a computerized method of creating and laying out a printed document whose content could be tailored to a selected group of customers. The first step is to decide what items - such as text, graphics or photographs - are to be inserted into the document for the target group of customers. This is done by accessing the customer database to determine the relevant items which are then inserted into a document template to create suggested layouts. The final layout is selected according to pre-determined criteria and the document is then printed out.
The Hearing Officer applied the four part test set out in the Aerotel/Macrossan judgment, found the invention to be excluded as a computer program and as presentation of information as such, and refused the application. She did not consider the invention provided a technical contribution of the type found in Symbian. In particular, a computer with the program of the present application did not provide, as a matter of practical reality, a “faster and more reliable computer”.