Key Facts
- •Emotional Perception AI Ltd appealed a UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) decision refusing a patent application.
- •The patent application concerned a system for recommending media files (e.g., music) based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN).
- •The ANN was trained to associate physical properties of music files with semantic descriptions (e.g., 'happy,' 'sad') to provide recommendations based on perceived emotion.
- •The key question was whether the invention fell under the Patents Act 1977's exclusion of 'a program for a computer...as such'.
- •The ANN could be implemented in hardware or software.
- •The UKIPO hearing officer found the invention excluded as a computer program.
Legal Principles
Patents Act 1977, section 1(2)(c) excludes from patent protection 'a program for a computer...as such'.
Patents Act 1977
The four-stage Aerotel test for determining patentability in light of the computer program exclusion.
Aerotel Ltd v Telco Holdings Ltd [2007] RPC 7
Five signposts from AT&T Knowledge Venture v Comptroller of Patents [2009] FSR 19 for assessing technical contribution.
AT&T Knowledge Venture v Comptroller of Patents [2009] FSR 19
Mere involvement of a computer or computer program does not automatically invoke the statutory exclusion; a technical contribution outside the program itself is needed.
Various case law (Protecting Kids, Halliburton)
Outcomes
The appeal was allowed.
The court found that the claim was not to a computer program 'as such'. The core invention was the method of training the ANN, not the program itself. The court also found a technical contribution in the provision of improved file recommendations, which involved a technical process of file selection and transmission, satisfying the requirements to escape the computer program exclusion.