In a patent validity and infringement trial before Charlotte May KC sitting as a deputy High Court judge, Martin Howe KC, leading Geoff Pritchard of 3 New Square, instructed by Dehns, appeared for the claimant patentee and Lindsay Lane KC leading Beth Collett, instructed by Norton Rose Fulbright, for the defendants.
The subject matter of the patent was the use of mobile devices to read data encoded in graphic objects such as QR codes to identify or authenticate access to services. Shell’s fuel payment system using customer mobile phones which scan QR codes on or near the pumps was alleged to infringe.
The issues were whether the patent was obvious or anticipated, whether a post-grant amendment to the specification and claims was allowable, and whether the shell system infringed the claims as amended.