Spare a thought for Neal Macrossan. The English High Court has agreed with the verdict of the Comptroller-General Of Patents, Designsand Trade Marks that his invention cannot be patented. His site www.ukcorporator.co.uk/ allows someone to file company incorporation forms on line via his company.
A patent needs to be capable of an industria l application, be new and involve an inventive step. Business methods and computer programs of sorts are specifically excluded from patentability.
His invention failed on 2 counts the automation of a mental act and of it being a program for a computer. Counsel for the Comptroller-General Colin Birss said, “This is, we would submit, plainly excluded subject matter. It is not really more than a computer program.”
All is not lost for Macrossan as Lord Justice Jacob ruled in a pre-trial hearing that he had a ‘real prospect of success’.
Mr Macrossan meanwhile waits for any news in Australia.
