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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Outersonic Limited (Patent) [2004] UKIntelP o27304 (6 September 2004)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2004/o27304.html
Cite as: [2004] UKIntelP o27304

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Outersonic Limited [2004] UKIntelP o27304 (6 September 2004)

For the whole decision click here: o27304

Patent decision

BL number
O/273/04
Concerning rights in
GB0005083.1
Hearing Officer
Mr S Probert
Decision date
6 September 2004
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Outersonic Limited
Provisions discussed
PA 1977 Section 1(2)(c)
Keywords
Excluded fields (refused)
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The invention concerns an on-line product catalogue for use in an internet shopping environment. In the embodiment described, users may navigate through a virtual space which includes some symbols representing products (e.g. multimedia resources), and other symbols representing 'real' people navigating through the same virtual space. The characterising feature of the invention is the use of a particular type of virtual space called an 'odyssey', in which a user is constrained to follow a pre-defined route through the on-line catalogue.

The Hearing Officer considered that the invention did not involve a technical contribution, and that it related to a scheme for doing business and/or a program for a computer as such. He also considered that the application would have suffered the same fate under the EPC having regard to the Board of Appeal's decision in two recent cases - Pension Benefits and Hitachi.


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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2004/o27304.html