UK IPO Issues New Guidance On Computer-implemented Inventions

Earlier this year, the UK Supreme Court gave its judgment in Emotional Perception AI Limited v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks. The judgment overturned the UK’s existing approach to excluded subject-matter and aligned the UK with the EPO’s two-hurdle approach. The two-hurdle approach involves first considering whether the claim relates to excluded subject-matter (which is avoided by the inclusion of any hardware feature, such as a computer), and then assessing whether the claim meets the requirements of novelty and inventive step by providing a technical solution to a problem. The UK IPO has now issued general guidance to examiners in a practice notice setting out how to apply the judgment in practice.