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Patent for method of identifying a mobile 'phone user is not invalid for want of novelty or obviousness.
09 March 2011
The Claimaint company obtained an injunction and damages against the Defendant, who had sought to bring a device to market for which the Claimant had a patent. The patent was for the method of breaking through mobile 'phone network security so that the number and user could be obtained. The Defendant tried to produce new evidence (with the permission of the Court of Appeal) to suggest that because of material that had been supplied with its device, prior to the granting of the patent, it was part of a prior art and the patent was invalid. The Patents Court held that the matieral had not been supplied with the device when it was sold, but at a later date. Further, the manual would have been subject to confidentiality between the contracting parties. Accordingly, the patent was not invalid and had been infringed.
MMI Research Ltd -v- Cellxion Ltd & Others
