Patent decision

BL number

O/593/22

Concerning rights in

GB 2108140.1 & GB2108142.7

Hearing Officer

Miss J Pullen

Decision date

12 July 2022

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Wei Xu

Provisions discussed

s.1(2), s.14(5), s.76

Keywords

Added subject matter, Clarity, Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The two inventions each relate to barcode-based transaction systems. The -˜140.1 invention relates to a barcode-based transaction system where a transaction-specific barcode is displayed on a checkout and captured by a user-™s mobile device. The mobile device communicates with a server to confirm that the barcode was generated according to a pre-set rule. Settlement can then be made from information encoded within the barcode. The -˜142.7 invention relates to a barcode-based arrangement of rewarding a commodity recommender when a user purchases a commodity. The arrangement uses mobile devices and various servers to implement a virtual currency rebate to the recommender.

The hearing officer found that the objection regarding -˜140.1 containing added matter was not correct and that an objection to -˜142.7 being unclear with regard to the definition of two servers was incorrect.

The hearing officer rejected the applicant-™s submissions that both inventions comprised a new arrangement of hardware or provided any actual contribution to the security of the transaction systems given the prior disclosure in the applicant-™s own previous patent application. The hearing officer found that the contributions of the inventions did not make a technical contribution and are excluded from patentability as a computer program and/or a business method, as such. The applications were refused under section 18(3).

Full decisionO/593/22  359Kb