Forensic Science Service Limited (Patent) [2012] UKIntelP o09912 (5 March 2012)
Patent decision
BL number
O/099/12
Concerning rights in
GB 0818032.5
Hearing Officer
Miss J Pullen
Decision date
5 March 2012
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Forensic Science Service Limited
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Sections 1(2)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None
Summary
The invention relates to a method of analysing samples containing mixed source DNA to establish mixing proportions for the sources and establish likely genotypes for the source. The output of the sample analysis is subjected to a further iterative analysis which involves creating simulated outputs where the contributory factors are known and comparing these to the actual output to see if they match. Each time a better match is acquired this is assumed to be the best match. The method continues until the optimum explanation of the output is acquired. Such information is useful in a variety of legal and law enforcement applications. The hearing officer found that the contribution lay in the field of data processing and related to a computer program as such. The application was therefore refused.