Patent decision

BL number

O/131/13

Concerning rights in

GB0916691.9

Hearing Officer

Mr H Jones

Decision date

25 March 2013

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Paul Kelly v Packexe (Holdings) Limited

Provisions discussed

Section 8, section 13

Keywords

Entitlement, Inventorship

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a method of avoiding injuries caused by shattered glass at the scene of a road traffic accident. Mr Kelly claimed that the invention was made by him while working as a part-time fire fighter with the Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. He claimed that he became aware of an adhesive film produced by Packexe for protecting carpet while involved in part-time painting and decorating work, and devised the idea of applying the film to vehicles at the scene of an accident to improve the breaking and extraction of glass. He approached Packexe through his employers, and the two parties then became involved in testing and development work. The patent application was filed by Packexe. Mr Kelly claims that he is entitled to be named as sole inventor and that ownership should be transferred to him. Packexe contested the claims and questioned the originality of Mr Kelly’s idea.

The hearing officer decided that both parties had contributed their own ideas to the final product and that it was equitable to allow Mr Kelly to file a new application based on subject matter deleted from the original. No order for costs was made. In accordance with the guidance in Markem, it was decided that there was not an unarguable case for taking validity into account.