Monday, January 24, 2011

Change in emotional state not a physical phenomenon or effect!?


Australian Patent Office refused to grant a patent for a rational inquiry method for facilitating a person to integrate an inconsistency by comparison (AU 2007221889) on the ground that such method does not constitute a patentable subject matter. In the applicant's submission, it was argued that the method claimed produces an observable effect because it results in a change in the emotional and, consequently, the physiological state of the subject. The Hearing Office rejected this argument but stated that the subject matter of the claims is a process of psychological analysis and therapy based on analysing the subject’s responses to questions, which solely concerns human interactions and behaviours. For this reason, the Hearing Office ruled that the subject matter of the claims is not an “artificially created stated of affairs prescribed in NRDC case nor a “physically phenomenon or effect” anticipated in Grant.

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