“…e judge erred in principle because he failed to apply Lord Diplock’s well-known warning in Technograph Printed Circuits Ltd v Mills & Rockley (Electronics) Ltd [1972] RPC 346 at 362. This is not a promising contention given that: (i) the judge cited at [249] Fletcher Moulton LJ’s equally well-known earlier warning to much the same e…”
“…ition of the law. It included a distillation of the principle expressed by Lord Diplock in Technograph Printed Circuits Ltd v Mills & Rockley (Electronics) Ltd [1972] RPC 346 at 362:…”
“…n Non-Drip Measure Co Ltd v StrangersLtd (1943) 60 RPC 135 at 142 and also by Lord Reid in Technograph Printed Circuits Ltd v Mills & Rockley (Electronics) Ltd [1972] RPC 346 at 353. Where getting from the prior art to the claimed invention involves a number of steps, the dangers of hindsight are particularly acute even if each step…”
“…Judges have in the past bridled at the harshness of this rule. In Technograph v Mills & Rockley [1972] RPC 346 Lord Reid considered that the possible starting points for an obviousness attack differed from those which could be deployed for novelty. Although in the case …”
“…unched. To provide such a platform was contrary to the warning, given in cases such as Technograph Printed Circuits Limited v Mills & Rockley (Electronics) Ltd [1972] RPC 346, against “step-by-step” arguments of obviousness. It was wrong in principle to decide at the outset that a particular part of the gap between the prior art and…”