UK, High Court

Mr Justice Patten:

1. Introduction

This is an appeal by Symbian Limited (“Symbian”) against the decision of the Comptroller General of Patents (dated 30 July 2007) refusing UK Patent Application No. GB 0325145.1 on the ground that the invention is excluded from patentability under s. 1(2) of the Patents Act 1977 (“the 1977 Act”). The Hearing Officer (Mrs S.E. Chalmers) confirmed the objection to patentability raised by the examiner which was that each of the claims related to a program for a computer and could not be saved by amendment.

Mr Peter Prescott QC:

I. Introduction

1. What is an ‘invention’? That is what this case is about.
2. Some kinds of ideas cannot be patented at all – even if new and very ingenious. For example, you could not patent the plot of a detective story. It would not be considered to be an ‘invention’ under patent law. Nor could J.S. Bach have patented his Two-Part Inventions, and for much the same reason. It goes to show that patent law uses the word ‘invention’ in a rather special way.

Introduction

1. This appeal raises an important issue, namely whether patent claims can ever be granted for computer programs. It is an issue upon which the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office ("UKIPO") and the European Patent Office ("EPO") disagree. UKIPO considers such claims are prohibited by Article 52 of the European Patent Convention ("EPCⁱ").