Patent decision

BL number

O/003/16

Concerning rights in

GB1421510.7

Hearing Officer

Mr P Slater

Decision date

5 January 2016

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Silixa Ltd

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Section 14(3)

Keywords

Estoppel, Sufficiency

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The invention relates to a distributed fibre optic sensor which can be used to perform acoustic measurements. Distributed fibre optic acoustic sensors operate by launching a light pulse into a sensing optical fibre. The light travels along the fibre and a small amount of this light is backscattered and/or reflected. Acoustic signals incident on the fibre change the strain in the fibre and this influences the backscattered or reflected light. Analysis of the backscattered/reflected light provides a measurement of the incident acoustic signal at different locations along the entire length of the fibre. The examiner considered the disclosure to be insufficient and was minded to refuse the application under Section 14(3).

The Hearing Officer considered the issue of sufficiency and found the application to be in order. Arguments regarding estoppel were dismissed

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