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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Apple Inc (Patent) [2016] UKIntelP o13716 (15 March 2016)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2016/o13716.html
Cite as: [2016] UKIntelP o13716
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Apple Inc (Patent) [2016] UKIntelP o13716 (15 March 2016)
Patent decision
- BL number
- O/137/16
- Concerning rights in
- GB1212453.3
- Hearing Officer
- Mr B Micklewright
- Decision date
- 15 March 2016
- Person(s) or Company(s) involved
- Apple Inc
- Provisions discussed
- Patents Act 1977 section 1(2)
- Keywords
- Excluded fields (refused)
- Related Decisions
- None
Summary
The invention related to linking a software application that is pre-installed on a client device with a user account, thereby enabling certain acts to be carried out in relation to that application such as updating or reinstalling the application, or installing the application on another client device associated with the user account. A check is made that the application can be linked to the user account and has not previously been linked. Unique identifiers are used in this verification step. The hearing officer considered the main set of claims and also an auxiliary request and concluded that in both cases the claimed invention lay entirely in the excluded fields of a program for a computer as such and a method of doing business as such. He therefore refused the application.