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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> i2 Technologies US, Inc (Patent) [2010] UKIntelP o42410 (7 December 2010)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2010/o42410.html
Cite as: [2010] UKIntelP o42410
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i2 Technologies US, Inc [2010] UKIntelP o42410 (7 December 2010)
For the whole decision click here: o42410
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/424/10
- Concerning rights in
- GB 0600191.1
- Hearing Officer
- Mrs S E Chalmers
- Decision date
- 7 December 2010
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- i2 Technologies US, Inc
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977, Section 1(2)(c)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application is concerned with a computer-implemented system and method for supply chain planning in which the user is provided with a visual representation of the supply chain network and a high level plan display. These are interactive and the user can switch between them - for example to determine the effect of a change in production target on the supply chain or to investigate a stock supply problem. The results can then be used to generate a new plan.
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 a method of doing business 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”.