UK Court of Appeal Rules that Off-shore Server is Not Beyond Jurisdiction of Interactive Gaming Patent

The UK Court of Appeal has issued its decision in Menashe Business Mercantile v. William Hill, a case involving the issue of whether an interactive gaming patent can be enforced against a server located outside the UK. The defendant had operated a gaming system available to computer owners in the UK and supplied customers with a program which allowed their computers to communicate with a host computer outside the UK via the Internet. The Court of Appeal held that the claimed invention required there to be a host computer and that its location did not matter to the claimed gaming system nor to the user of the invention. The relevant issue was where the gaming system was being implemented by its users. Given that there was no doubt that the customers used their terminals within the UK, the Court of Appeal dismissed the defendant's appeal. For a copy of the decision, visit: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2002/1702.html