Patent decision

BL number

O/0208/23

Concerning rights in

GB1414346.5

Hearing Officer

Mr S Brown

Decision date

28 February 2023

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Anthony Gregory Smith

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 Sections 1(1), 14(3), 14(5) and 76(2)

Keywords

Added subject matter, Clarity, Inventive step, Novelty, Sufficiency

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The application concerns a sandwich panel intended for use in high temperature environments. It comprises a solid base followed by a porous lattice structure formed integrally with the base by additive layer manufacturing (ALM). Onto this a ceramic layer is sprayed. The lattice structure provides a flexible connection to the ceramic layer and allows the flow of cooling fluid.

The examiner had objected that the most recent amendments included added matter and unallowable product by process features. Furthermore, that the description was insufficient and when the unallowable parts of the claims were excised what remained lacked novelty over three separate citations.

The Hearing Officer began with the issue of added matter and concluded that when using purposive construction in light of the description the skilled person would not learn anything new from the amended claims. He also decided that the use of -˜product by process-™ claims was allowable since the restriction to ALM was a key part of the invention and would not cause a skilled reader to doubt the scope of the claims.

On the issue of sufficiency, the Hearing Officer decided that while sparse, there was enough information in the application, when combined with common general knowledge, to allow a skilled person to make the claimed panel. Finally, He decided that the claims, with the construction arrived at, were novel and inventive over the cited prior art.

The case was remitted to the examiner to decide whether further searching was required. The Hearing

Officer extended the compliance period, under rule 107, to allow this.

Full decisionO/0208/23  458Kb