Advanced New Technologies Co., Ltd.

Advanced New Technologies Co., Ltd. is the applicant before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) regarding a patent application for an invention related to blockchain technology. The dispute involves the patentability of the invention, specifically whether it qualifies as a manner of manufacture and whether the specification provides a full disclosure. The AAT examined whether the invention was a business scheme, addressed a technical problem, or merely required generic computer implementation, and if it produced a practical and useful result. The court's task was to determine whether the claimed invention met the statutory requirements for patentability, particularly if it involved more than an abstract idea, if the contribution was technical in nature, and if it resulted in a practical and useful result.

The court found that while the invention involved generating and presenting information by converting transaction data into a transaction abstract, it was not merely generating and presenting intellectual information. Instead, the invention involved consensus validation by nodes and storing the transaction abstract in the blockchain, yielding greater security for information stored in the blockchain. Although the invention required generic computer implementation, the focus was not on the computer program itself. The court concluded that the invention was a manner of manufacture as it involved technical improvements to fundamental mechanisms related to consensus within a blockchain. However, the court noted doubts about the inventiveness of the claimed invention.

The court ordered that the application be referred back to examination, indicating that while the invention was a manner of manufacture, further assessment of its inventiveness was necessary. This decision highlights the importance of detailed disclosure in patent applications, especially for complex technological inventions, and the need for inventions to demonstrate a practical and useful result beyond mere intellectual information.