Decision Nº O/554/21 from Intellectual Property Office - (Patent decisions), 26 July 2021
| Judge | Mr P Thorpe |
| Court | Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom) |
| Date | 26 July 2021 |
| Administrative Decision Number | O/554/21 |
| Patent Number | GB1617110.0 |
| Parties | Obrist Closures Switzerland GmbH |
BL O/554/21
26 July 2021
APPLICANT
Obrist Closures Switzerland GmbH
ISSUE
Whether patent application GB1617110.0 complies
with section 1(1)(b)
HEARING OFFICER
Phil Thorpe
DECISION
Introduction
1 Patent Application No GB 1617110.0 (the application) is derived from International
Patent Application PCT/EP2015/057352 which was filed on 2nd April 2015 claiming
an earliest priority of 3rd April 2014. It was published as WO2015/150537 on the 8th
October 2015. It entered the national phase on 7th October 2016 and was
subsequently published as GB2539144 on 7th December 2016. The application is in
the name of Obrist Closures Switzerland and names Mr Martin Carey Bull as the
sole inventor.
2 Despite thorough and detailed correspondence between the examiner and the
applicant’s attorney, together with amendments to the claims, the applicant has been
unable to satisfy the examiner that the application satisfies the requirements of the
Patent Act 1977 (the Act). Though there remain outstanding issues around clarity,
the core issue remains that the examiner considers that the application does not
involve an inventive step.
3 As such, the matter came before me in a Hearing which took place on 15th April
2021. At the hearing, the applicant was represented by Mr Bruce Jones of Kuit
Steinart Levy LLP and Mr Matthew Greenwood of Bryers LLP.
The invention
4 The invention relates to a valve sub assembly where a flexible valve member is
retained by crimping in a closure member for the container. Such valve assemblies
are used in containers such as ketchup bottles, sports drink bottles and the like.
Such containers often have peelable foil membranes affixed over the mouth of the
container which has to be removed prior to the first dispensing. To remove this foil
the user must first remove the closure member from the container, then peel off the
membrane, and then re-attach the closure member. Once this has been carried out
the user may then squeeze the container and force the product through the valve
and the associated spout or orifice situated in the closure member. It has however
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