T 0309/05 (Domain name generation/RAREDOMAINS.COM) of 27.10.2006
- European Case Law Identifier
- ECLI:EP:BA:2006:T030905.20061027
- Date of decision
- 27 October 2006
- Case number
- T 0309/05
- Petition for review of
- -
- Application number
- 00963659.8
- IPC class
- H04L 29/06
- Language of proceedings
- English
- Distribution
- Distributed to board chairmen and members (B)
- Download
- Decision in English
- OJ versions
- No OJ links found
- Other decisions for this case
- -
- Abstracts for this decision
- -
- Application title
- System and method for generating domain names and for facilitating registration and transfer of the same
- Applicant name
- Raredomains.com, LLC
- Opponent name
- -
- Board
- 3.5.03
- Headnote
- -
- Relevant legal provisions
- European Patent Convention Art 52(2) 1973European Patent Convention Art 56 1973
- Keywords
- Inventive step - (no)
Formulation of technical problem - Catchword
- 1. Where a combination of non-technical and technical features is claimed, the consideration of inventive step requires that the problem be restricted to its technical aspects (point 4.2, following T 0641/00).
2. The problem of automating the generation of Internet domain names, so that only names which are both available and desirable are presented to a potential buyer, must therefore be stripped of aesthetic and semantic considerations, since these lie in a field excluded from patentability by the provisions of Articles 52(2)(b) and 52(2)(c) EPC (Points 4.7 and 4.9). Reformulating the problem into non-technical and technical components leaves as a technical problem simply the concatenation of a text string provided by a user with a predetermined string (Points 4.11 and 4.12).
3. The subject-matter and activities specified in Article 52(2) EPC can be considered to be "non-technical", as that term has been used by the boards (Point 4.10). - Citing cases
- -
ORDER
For these reasons it is decided that:
The appeal is dismissed.