accurate. Mr Rathilall is presently employed by Vodacom as its Community Service Manager. He has
responsibility, among others, to provide support to the Autocharge product and is thus familiar with its inner
workings. Mr Gathercole, who testified as Vodacom's expert, is a C5 technician and a communications network
engineer, with extensive experience in the telecommunications industry. He has attended numerous courses
and received training in intelligent networks. He has had responsibility for investigating and assessing the
feasibility of several Vodacom products and their engineering implementation. He is possessed of a
comprehensive expert understanding of the operation of both the Autocharge and hybrid products at issue in
this case. Both witnesses gave a description of the Autocharge system consistent with the portrayal of it in
the defendants' expert summary, filed in terms of rule 36(9)(b) of the Uniform Rules of Court by Mr Gathercole,
and confirmed by him during his later evidence.
[29] The Autocharge service entails a recharge of airtime by use of a credit card. It is not disputed that it discloses
at least some of the integers of the claims of the patent in suit. To perform a credit card recharge it is
necessary first to register with the service in order to do so. A subscriber must obtain a registration form
(downloaded from the website), complete it and return it to Vodacom together with a photocopy of the front
page of his or her ID book and copies of the front and back of his or her credit card. Vodacom will then confirm
the credit card details with the issuing bank, capture the customer's details in a database and set a credit
threshold for the customer in the database. Vodacom thereafter will contact the customer by telephone and
identify the customer by referencing the subscriber information in the database. After verification the customer
is orally provided with a Personal Identity Number ("PIN"), which is randomly generated by a computer and
stored in the customer database. This ends the registration process. So registered, the subscriber is enabled
to access and use the network by means of credit card recharge on the Autocharge system. The credit card
recharge is therefore undeniably both a method and system of enabling use of a communication network by a
subscriber.
[30] When wanting to do a credit card recharge, a registered subscriber dials a specific number (100) to access the
recharge system. He is then connected with a voice response unit ("VRU"). The VRU responding to the
telephone call from the subscriber is "a telephonic communication means for receiving the telephone call from
the subscriber". The VRU automatically answers the telephone call and is an interactive telephone system
(involving voice prompts to the subscriber) and a modem for receiving the telephone call from the subscriber.
The VRU obtains the PIN from
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the subscriber which the subscriber enters on the keypad of his cellphone. When the VRU answers the
telephone call from the subscriber, a computer within the system obtains the subscriber's telephone number
by automatic number identification ("ANI"), which is thus a method of identifying the subscriber by means of a
caller line identification facility. The computer is therefore identification means for remotely identifying the
subscriber and includes a caller line identification facility or module. A computer within the system checks the
entered PIN against the information contained in the customer database to determine if the PIN matches the
phone number of the calling phone. This computer is thus verification means for verifying the subscriber
details with reference to the subscriber database. The subscriber database includes a financial threshold
which is financial data regarding each subscriber. A computer within the system is configured to update the
database to reflect each transaction with the subscriber. The computer also logs calls received from
subscribers and thus is or includes an administration module or system. The computer is linked to the VRU
(modem) so that, inter alia, the subscriber's telephone number, which is his identification details, is fed to the
computer for recording on a database. I will discuss other technical aspects of the Autocharge system in more
detail later.
[31] From the subscriber's perspective though it is a fairly straightforward operation: the subscriber phones the
system; is met with the VRU; enters his PIN; once verified is prompted to select a specific amount of airtime; if
he has sufficient credit his credit card is debited with the selected amount and his airtime account on the
network is credited with the same amount. An SMS is then sent to the subscriber confirming the success of
the exercise, the recharge value and the updated balance of airtime available.
[32] Both Rathilall and Gathercole testified that the system and methods used in the Vodacom Autocharge service
(earlier operated by Cointel (Pty) Ltd) have been used since its commercial launch in 1998. This became
common cause during the course of the trial. The system and methods were hence present prior to 24 May
2000 (the priority date) and during February 2006 (the date of alleged infringement).
[33] In so far as the plaintiff alleged that it was this method that infringed claim 1 of the patent, the defendants in
their request for further particulars (apparently with integers (e) and (f ) of claim 1 in mind) requested the
plaintiff to state what the plaintiff alleged constitutes the relevant "enabling code" when the Autocharge
facility is used. To which the plaintiff replied: "When the Autocharge facility instructs the prepaid billing
platforms to apply a specific airtime credit" in other words, when Vodacom's computers give an instruction to
the network to credit the subscriber's account (paragraph [13(a)] of the request for further particulars and
paragraph [51] of the response). In response to the request to state the manner in which and the stage at
which the relevant enabling code is provided to the subscriber when using the facility (paragraph [13(b)]) the
plaintiff responded: "It is provided as airtime credit to the subscriber's account after the successful receipt of
funds from the subscriber" (paragraph[52]). And finally, as to the manner in which and the stage at which the
relevant enabling code is fed into the network, the answer was: "The enabling code is fed into the network
automatically on behalf of the subscriber (at his request or instruction)."
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[34] I turn now to a brief overview of the hybrid system, which the plaintiff contends is an added infringement of