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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Kimberley -Clark Worldwide Inc (Patent) [2004] UKIntelP o27904 (17 September 2004) URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2004/o27904.html Cite as: [2004] UKIntelP o27904 |
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For the whole decision click here: o27904
Summary
The issue was whether a UK patent and a EP(UK) patent had been granted for the same invention. There were two main features identified, referred to as A and B. The patentee argued that A and B were both inventions in their own right. The examiner considered that B was a trivial feature, and that only one invention was present in both patents.
Initially both patents had been granted with some claims to A, and some claims to A+B. During opposition proceedings at the EPO, the claims to A were deleted from the EP(UK) patent. The UK patent was subsequently amended to delete the claims to A+B. The Hearing Officer had no way of knowing for certain whether B was an invention, although he recognised that this was likely to be a critical factor in this particular case. In the event, he considered that the outcome of the EPO opposition suggested that there was a difference of substance between the two patents as now amended. With the balance of probabilities lying in the patentees favour, the Hearing Officer would not order revocation of a patent from the register while there was doubt as to the justification for so doing.