Patent decision

BL number

O/424/10

Concerning rights in

GB 0600191.1

Hearing Officer

Mrs S E Chalmers

Decision date

7 December 2010

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

i2 Technologies US, Inc

Provisions discussed

PA 1977, Section 1(2)(c)

Keywords

Excluded fields (refused)

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application is concerned with a computer-implemented system and method for supply chain planning in which the user is provided with a visual representation of the supply chain network and a high level plan display. These are interactive and the user can switch between them - for example to determine the effect of a change in production target on the supply chain or to investigate a stock supply problem. The results can then be used to generate a new plan.

The Hearing Officer applied the four part test set out in the Aerotel/Macrossan judgment, found the invention to be excluded as a computer program and as a method of doing business as such, and refused the application. She did not consider the invention provided a technical contribution of the type found in Symbian. In particular, a computer with the program of the present application did not provide, as a matter of practical reality, a “faster and more reliable computer”.

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