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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> eBay (Patent) [2013] UKIntelP o10713 (6 March 2013)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2013/o10713.html
Cite as: [2013] UKIntelP o10713
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eBay (Patent) [2013] UKIntelP o10713 (6 March 2013)
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/107/13
- Concerning rights in
- GB1003773.7
- Hearing Officer
- Mrs C L Davies
- Decision date
- 6 March 2013
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- eBay
- Provisions discussed
- PA 1977 Section 1(2)(c)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The application relates to a system for enabling a user to access access controlled data. The invention is based on using a so-called "peer-to-peer" network and allows a user to pass on to another user a media file that they have downloaded. That further user can then request permission to play the file without having to start again by downloading the file from a server, the request however naturally involving a payment. What allows the user to play the file is data incorporated into a "header" which is separated from the main data of the media file, i.e. the music/video data itself.
The Hearing Officer applied the four step test set out in Aerotel/Macrossan in the light of the Symbian judgments and the AT&T signposts and found that the invention is excluded under Section 1(2) because it relates solely to excluded matter, namely to a computer program and a business method as such. The application was refused.