Multichoice South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Barron

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Judge: JW Louw J
• Judgment Date: 15 December 2014
• Docket Number: P 2002/10346
• Court: Commissioner of Patents
• Hearing Date: 17 November 2014
• Citation: 2014 JDR 2624 (COP)

C J W Louw, J

[1]

The first and second respondents are the co-patentees of South African Patent no. 2002/10346 Entertainment System and Method. The patent was filed on 20 December 2012 and the earliest priority date claimed is 4 October 2001.

2014 JDR 2624 p2

C J W Louw, J

[2]

The applicant applies, in terms of s 61 of the Patents Act 57 of 1978 ("the Act"), for the revocation of the patent on the grounds of lack of novelty, insufficiency, lack of inventive step and lack of fair basis. Save for lack of fair basis, the attacks turn on the interpretation of the claims of the patent.

[3]

The patent has two independent claims, being claim 1 and claim 17. Claim 1 reads as follows:

An entertainment system, including

(i)

a data storage means containing a plurality of entertainment programs;

(ii)

control means operably connected to the data storage means, the control means being operable to provide a menu of the entertainment programs stored on the data storage means and to selectively retrieve and transmit a stored entertainment program from the data storage means on receipt of a predetermined user-initiated signal;

(iii)

a communications channel operably connected to the control means and connectable to a plurality of display means for displaying the menu and programs transmitted by the transmitting means; and

(iv)

a plurality of selection means operably connected to the communications channel, each selection means being operable by a user of the system to select a program from a menu displayed on a respective display means and to transmit a signal representative of the said selection to the control means;

(v)

characterised in that the control means is operable on demand by a respective user to transmit a program selected by that respective user from the displayed menu from a beginning of the said program, independently of the selection of programs by other users of the system. [1]

2014 JDR 2624 p3

C J W Louw, J

[4]

Claim 17 is a method claim and reads as follows:

A method for providing entertainment by means of an entertainment system, the method including the steps of

(i)

providing a data storage means containing a plurality of entertainment programs;

(ii)

displaying, via a plurality of display means, a menu of the programs contained on the data storage means;

(iii)

receiving from a user of the system, via a user-operated selection means, a user-initiated signal representative of a program selected by the user from the menu of the programs displayed on a respective display means; and

(iv)

transmitting on demand by the respective user a program selected by that respective user, from a beginning of the said program, for display means of that user, independently of the programs selected by the other users of the system. [2]

[5]

The applicant contends that what is claimed in claims 1 and 17 of the patent is a standard video on demand (VOD) system which was well known at the priority date of the patent. The parties agree that a VOD system is a system which allows subscribers to...