I will bag patent, says OAP inventor
 | | ANDREW Scanlan and his bag-carrying invention which he is battling to patent |
AN ELDERLY inventor has vowed to fight on after losing his appeal to get a patent for a device that makes it easier to carry shopping bags.
Retired sheet metal worker Andrew Scanlan, 76, of Aubert Park, Highbury, wants a patent for his wooden handle which stops heavy carrier bags cutting into shoppers' hands.
The pensioner has had his request refused three times - at the patents office, the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
But he is determined to battle on - and plans to take his invention to the House of Lords.
"They are denying an idea from going onto the market," said Mr Scanlan, who has made two of the handles - the only device he has ever invented.
Outside the Court of Appeal - where Lord Justice Jacob refused to overturn the earlier refusal for a patent - Mr Scanlan said: "I'm not finished yet. None of the examples of previous devices cited by the patents office have reached the market yet and my one could."
The inventor first took his handle to the patents office in January - but they claimed the idea was not original.
Mr Scanlan sought judicial review of the decision in the High Court - but the bid failed.
Last week in the Court of Appeal Lord Justice Jacob agreed the device was an "original" and "elegant" design but refused to overturn the decision.
He said: "I think that others had the same idea as Mr Scanlan and disclosed it first. No one denies that the device is somewhat different in shape and, speaking personally, it seems somewhat more elegant and I would rather use it than the others myself.
"He automatically has design rights over his particular design and if anyone copies his design they will be in trouble.
"But patents are granted for ideas of principle. You can't have patents on an idea someone has thought of.
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