Patentability of management software for fleet of vehicles
PATENTABILITYOFMANAGEMENTSOFTWAREFORFLEETOFV
EHICLES
ADAMMIZERA*
ROBIC,
LLP
L
AWYERS,PATENTANDTRADE-MARKSAGENTS
ThePatentAppealBoardinCanadarecentlyrejectedapatentapplicationfiledby
U-HaulInternationalInc.relatedtovehiclefleetmanagementsoftware.Thisdecision
appliesprinciplesestablishedintheAmazon.comcasethatwasreportedinoneof
ourpreviousnewslettersin2009.
Thepatentapplicationrelatestoaprocessandsystemforfollowingtherepairand
generalstatusofvehiclesinacoordinatedmannerfromseveralvehiclecenters
spreadoutgeographically.
TheExaminerresponsiblefortheapplicationhadrejectedtheapplicationbystating
thatitwasindefiniteandobviousandthattheapplicationclaimednon-patentable
subjectmatter.AccordingtotheCanadianPatentAct,thepresentarticlewill
concentrateonthequestionofpatentablesubjectmatter.
InitsdecisioninvolvingtheU-Haulpatentapplication,thePatentAppealBoard
(“Board”)reiteratedthat,foraclaimtobepatentable,theformoftheclaimmustbe
relatedtooneofthefivecategoriesofpatentableinventions:art,process,machine,
manufactureoracompositionofmatter.Moreover,theBoardmaintainedthatthe
formoftheclaimmustnotberelatedtoanexcludedobject,nortoanynon-
technologicalmatter.TheBoardalsoreiteratedthatthesubstanceoftheclaimed
inventionor”whathasbeenaddedtohumanknowledge”,mustberelatedtooneof
thefiveabove-mentionedcategoriesofpatentableinventions.Furthermore,the
additiontohumanknowledgemustnotberelatedtoanexcludedobject,nortoany
non-technologicalsubjectmatter.TheBoardrecognizesthatthesethreecriteria,the
categoriesofinventions,excludedobjectsandnon-technologicalsubjectmatter,
maysometimesoverlapwhilenotcoincidingexactly.TheBoardgivestheexample
ofageneticallymodifiedhigherlifeformwhichmaybetechnologicalinnaturebut
neverthelessdoesnotrepresentpatentablesubjectmatter.
©CIPS,2010.*WithROBIC,LLPamultidisciplinaryfirmofLawyers,andPatentandTrade-markAgents.Published
intheSpring2010Newsletterofthefirm(Vol.14,No.1).Publication068.119E.
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TheBoardthendefinedwhatmayconstituteatechnicaleffectwhentheclaimofthe
patentinvolvessoftware.TheBoardcitedtheBritishdecisioninAT&TKnowledge
VenturesLP,(2009)EWHC343(Pat)whichgivesexamplesoftechnicaleffects:
i)thetechnicaleffecthasaneffectonaprocesswhichiscarriedout
outsidethecomputer;
ii)ii)thetechnicaleffectoperatesatthelevelofthearchitectureofthe
computer;
iii)thetechnicaleffectresultsinthecomputeroperatinginanewway;
iv)thetechnicaleffectincreasesthespeedorreliabilityofthecomputer;
v)thetechnicaleffectovercomesaperceivedproblemanddoesnot
merelycircumventtheproblem.
TheBoardalsoclarifiedthefactthatalthoughtheAmazon.comcasedeclares
thatbusinessmethodsarenotpatentable,processesandmachinesdonot
necessarilyloosetherighttobecomepatentablebythesimplefactthatthey
havebeenconceivedtobeusedincertaincommercialactivities.
Followingitsanalysis,theBoardconcludedthatthecontributiontohuman
knowledgestemmingfromU-Haul’sinventionconsistedofacombinationofthe
followingoperations:automaticgenerationofforcecastavailabilityofvehicles
undermaintenance,thetransmissionanddiffusionofthisforecasttoanetwork,
thusprovidingtotheuserabettermanagementofafleetofvehicles.
TheBoardconcludedthatthesubstanceoftheinventionwasnottechnological
innature.Moreover,byanalyzingtheadvantagesprovidedbytheinventionin
termsoftechnicaleffectasdefinedintheAT&TKnowledgeVenturescase,the
Boardconcludedthattheinventionrepresentedapurelyadministrativeprocess
designedtoprocessandproduceinformationsandwasthereforesolelyrelated
totheorganizationofhumanactivities.Therefore,thesubstanceoftheinvention
wasexcludedsubjectmatterbecauseitrelatedtocommercialactivity.
TheBoard’spositionwillbeinterestingtoanalyseinviewoftheupcoming
decisionfromtheUSSupremeCourtintheInreBilskicasewhichwillevaluate
thepatentabilityofbusinessmethodsintheUnitedStates.
Inparallel,theAmazon.comdecisionwhichprovidedseveralelementsfor
analysisusedinthepresentdecisionhasbeenappealedtotheFederalCourtof
Canada.ItwillbeinterestingtoconfirmwhethertheFederalCourtwillusethe
additionalanalysiselementscitedbythePatentAppealBoardinthepresent
caseinordertodeterminewhethertheinventionrepresentspatentablesubject
matteraccordingtothePatentAct.
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