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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Shop.com (Patent) [2012] UKIntelP o48912 (7 December 2012)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2012/o48912.html
Cite as: [2012] UKIntelP o48912
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Shop.com (Patent) [2012] UKIntelP o48912 (7 December 2012)
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/489/12
- Concerning rights in
- GB1203666.1
- Hearing Officer
- Miss J Pullen
- Decision date
- 7 December 2012
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Shop.com
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Section 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to electronic online commerce and a system which allows a gift giver to predefine a selection of gifts from which the gift receiver is able to make a selection. The gift giver is able to set rules which the gift receiver must abide by in order to receive the promised gift(s), such as total price, number of gifts etc. The system works in conjunction with one or more vendors in order to produce purchase orders and invoicing. The gift giver will only be charged the value of the selected gifts.
The Hearing Officer considered the four-step test in Aerotel/Macrossan in the light of the Symbian judgment, and found the contribution lies in a method of doing business which is implemented via a computer program as opposed to being in the specific arrangement of the hardware used to implement the system. The Hearing Officer could find no technical contribution and so refused the applications under Section 18(3).