Patent decision

BL number

O/221/21

Concerning rights in

GB1821275.3

Hearing Officer

Mr B Buchanan

Decision date

31 March 2021

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.

Provisions discussed

Patents Act 1977, section 1(2)(c)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The claimed invention relates to a means for authenticating payment transactions, even when network transmission errors may corrupt the transmitted transaction data. A processor receives three pieces of data from a payment terminal and a payment application; namely an authentication MAC, an integrity MAC, and transaction data. The processor performs a first check on the transaction by using the transaction data to generate a local integrity MAC and comparing that with the received integrity MAC. If the two match the transaction is authenticated. If the two don-™t match, a local authentication MAC is generated by the processor using only data which is independent of any transaction data transmitted over the network by the payment terminal. The local authentication MAC is then compared to the received authentication MAC and if the two match the payment transaction is authenticated.

As a consequence, valid payment transactions may be authenticated with a secondary localised method of authentication even if a primary authentication fails due to being inadvertently rejected due to transmission integrity errors. Additionally, resources are used only if necessary.

The Hearing Officer followed the four stepAerotel/Macrossantest to determine whether there was a technical contribution and considered theAT&Tsignposts.The contribution was not found to provide the required technical effect and the claimed invention was found to relate solely to a program for a computer and a method for doing business as such, so the application did not meet the requirements of section 1(2)(c). The application was refused under section 18(3).

Full decisionO/221/21  284Kb