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United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office Decisions >> Bestplate Limited and Hills Numberplates Limited (Patent) [2007] UKIntelP o08407 (26 March 2007)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2007/o08407.html
Cite as: [2007] UKIntelP o8407, [2007] UKIntelP o08407

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Bestplate Limited and Hills Numberplates Limited [2007] UKIntelP o08407 (26 March 2007)

For the whole decision click here: o08407

Patent decision

BL number
O/084/07
Concerning rights in
GB 2 376 437
Hearing Officer
Mr P Marchant
Decision date
26 March 2007
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Bestplate Limited and Hills Numberplates Limited
Provisions discussed
PA Act 1977 Section 72 (1)(a)
Keywords
Revocation
Related Decisions
[2005] UKIntelP o06605, [2005] UKIntelP o29305, [2005] UKIntelP o32405, [2006] UKIntelP o13006

Summary

Bestplate Limited sought revocation of Patent Number GB2376437 in the light of prior publication in WO 94/19769 and other prior art. They argued that the method of number plate manufacture, which consisted of printing in reverse on a thin transparent film, and adhering the film to a rigid retro-reflective substrate was obvious, particularly in the light of the extensive common general knowledge and the simple mechanical elements and operations in the claims. Claim 13 was accepted by Hills during the hearing to lack inventive step, but the other independent claims were found to be inventive. Hills were given the opportunity to amend by deleting the invalid claim.


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URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIntelP/2007/o08407.html