Decision Nº O/1058/23 from Intellectual Property Office - (Patent decisions), 7 November 2023
| Judge | Mr P Mason |
| Court | Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom) |
| Patent Number | GB2103745.2 |
| Administrative Decision Number | O/1058/23 |
| Date | 07 November 2023 |
| Parties | Landmark Graphics Corporation |
BL O/1058/23
07 November 2023
PATENTS ACT 1977
APPLICANT
Landmark Graphics Corporation
ISSUE
Whether patent application GB2103745.2 complies
with Section 1(2) of the Patents Act 1977 (as
amended)
HEARING OFFICER
Peter Mason
DECISION
Background
1 This decision relates to the issue of whether patent application GB2103745.2 (“the
application”) meets the requirements of sections 1(2) of the Patents Act 1977 (“the
Act”) and, in particular, whether the claimed invention consists of a program for a
computer and/or the presentation of information as such.
2 The application is titled “Seamless Scaling Geomodelling” and is the GB national
phase application of PCT/US2018/066899, published as WO2020/131078 by the
International Bureau and republished as GB2591898 by the IPO. The prescribed
period for putting the application in order, referred to in section 20 of the Act and
defined by rule 30 of the Patents Rules 2007 (as amended), ended on 20 August
2023. The period was extended under section 108(2) of the Act to 20 October 2023
and further extended to 20 December 2023.
3 The PCT application was searched in the international phase and an International
Preliminary Report on Patentability (IPRP) was issued by the International Bureau in
September 2019. This report identified a prior art document, also by the present
applicant, which it concluded demonstrated that the claims were not inventive.
4 The first examination report in the national phase (dated 29 April 2022)
acknowledged the IPRP and adopted its findings. The examiner went on to raise
further objections to the clarity of the claims as well as being excluded as a computer
program and the presentation of information as such. The search was also
completed at this point.
5 The applicant amended the claims in August 2022. In response, the second
examination report (dated 17 October 2022) raised an objection to added subject
matter and restated the excluded matter objection. A further objection was raised to
the sufficiency of the application with doubts raised about whether the skilled person
could implement the invention.
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