Patent decision

BL number

O/054/14

Concerning rights in

GB 0817213.2

Hearing Officer

Mr A Bartlett

Decision date

30 January 2014

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Real Time Logistics Solutions Limited

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977 section 1(1)(b)

Keywords

Inventive step

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application relates to a system for monitoring usage of heavy goods vehicle trailers to ensure they are appropriately maintained. Each trailer is fitted with an RFID tag in a protective holder which can be read by tag readers located in places the trailer will visit. The RFID tag allows the trailer to be identified and also monitors rotation of one of the trailer wheels.

The prior art documents showed (i) that it was known to use RFID tags to provide diagnostic information following detection of distance travelled using rotation of an axle, (ii) information on how much a particular item has been used can be stored on an RFID tag with the tags being interrogated by one or more readers; an odometer reading could be used as the indicator of the amount that the item has been used, and (iii) RFID tags can be interrogated by multiple readers.

Applying the approach set out in Windsurfing and Pozzoli the hearing officer found that the differences between the inventive concept of the system defined in claim 1 and the prior art would be obvious to the skilled person and refused the application as lacking the inventive step required by section 1(1)(b).