JUDGMENT

Sanjeev Narula, J. (Oral)--Oneempower Pte Ltd. (Appellant), a loyalty marketing and commerce technology company, challenges the rejection of their patent application No. 10508/DELHNP/2013 for the invention titled "A Transaction Reward System". The crux of the present dispute lies in the characterisation of Appellant's invention as a business method and a computer programme per se by the Assistant Controller of Patents and Designs [hereinafter, "Controller"], vide order dated 24th November, 2022 [hereinafter, "impugned order"]. In this comprehensive exposition, while deciding the appeal under Section 117A of the Patents Act, 1970, we embark on an examination of the Appellant's arguments pertaining to the `technical effect' of the claimed invention as well as a scrutiny of the Controller's reasoning for rejecting it under Section 3(k) of the Patents Act.

THE SUBJECT INVENTION

2. Let us first delve into the essence of the invention, peering beneath the surface to unravel the claims made by the Appellant in the subject invention.

3. The subject invention is a Transaction Reward System [hereinafter interchangeably, "TRS" or "subject invention"] which enables the user to select