Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office

174 Pages·2002·0.58 MB·English

Case Law
of the Boards of Appeal
of the European
Patent Office
Fourth Edition
December 2001
edited by:
Legal Research Service
for the Boards of Appeal
Department 3.0.30
Published by:
European Patent Office
Directorate-General 3 (Appeals)
Legal Research Service for the Boards of Appeal
Printed by:
Mediengruppe UNIVERSAL Grafische Betriebe Manz und Mühlthaler GmbH
Printed in Germany
© 2002 European Patent Office
ISBN 3-89605-048-6
The editors wish to thank the Language Service for the translation and revision of the texts
and Michèle Meurice and Eva Schumacher for their valuable support.

Contents
CONTENTS
Foreword.............................................................. xxi
Reader's Guide ....................................................... xxiii
1. Abbreviations......................................................... xxiii
2. Citations ............................................................. xxiv
3. Case numbers ........................................................ xxiv
Headnotes of decisions to be published ................................... xxv
I. PATENTABILITY ........................................................ 1
A. Patentable inventions .................................................. 1
1. Technical nature of an invention ........................................... 1
1.1 Computer-implemented inventions ...................................... 2
1.2 Word-processing .................................................... 6
1.3 Presentations of information ........................................... 8
1.4 Methods for doing business........................................... 11
1.5 Aesthetic creations .................................................. 14
1.6 Lack of technical character in general................................... 15
2. Medical methods ....................................................... 16
2.1 Introduction ........................................................ 16
2.2 Allowability of claims under Article 52(4) EPC ............................ 17
2.2.1 General remarks ............................................... 17
2.2.2 Multi-step methods and Art. 52(4) EPC ............................. 18
2.2.3 Therapeutical or technical purpose of a feature....................... 19
2.2.4 Medical character of the excluded methods.......................... 20
2.2.5. The exclusion of industrial applicability under Article 52(4) EPC ......... 21
2.3 Therapeutic methods ................................................ 22
2.3.1 Meaning of "therapy" ............................................ 22
2.3.2 Methods with both therapeutic and non-therapeutic indications .......... 24
2.4 Surgical methods ................................................... 28
2.5 Diagnostic methods ................................................. 29
2.6 Products for use in medical methods ................................... 31
B. Exceptions to patentability ............................................. 32
1. Introduction ........................................................... 32
2. Inventions contrary to "ordre public"........................................ 33
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Contents
3. Patentability of plants and plant varieties.................................... 34
4. Patentability of animals and animal varieties ................................. 36
5. Essentially biological processes........................................... 36
6. Microbiological processes and the products thereof ........................... 37
C. Novelty .............................................................. 39
1. Defining the state of the art ............................................... 39
1.1 Relevant point in time................................................ 39
1.2 European prior rights ................................................ 39
1.3 PCT applications as state of the art..................................... 40
1.4 Excluded national prior rights ......................................... 40
1.5 Article 55 EPC ..................................................... 41
1.6 Availability to the public .............................................. 42
1.6.1 Publication .................................................... 42
1.6.2 Abstracts of documents.......................................... 43
1.6.3 Repetition of oral disclosures ..................................... 44
1.6.4 Prior use ...................................................... 44
1.6.5 Biological material .............................................. 45
1.6.6 The concept of "the public" ....................................... 45
1.6.7 Obligation to maintain secrecy .................................... 46
1.7 Issues of proof ..................................................... 51
1.7.1 Nature of the evidence .......................................... 51
1.7.2 Burden of proof ................................................ 52
1.7.3 Standard of proof ............................................... 53
1.7.4 Obligation of the EPO to examine of its own motion ................... 53
2. Determining the content of the relevant prior art .............................. 54
2.1 General rules of interpretation ......................................... 54
2.2 Combinations within a prior art document ................................ 56
2.3 Taking implicit features into account .................................... 57
2.4. Taking intrinsic features into account ................................... 58
2.5 Taking equivalents into account ....................................... 59
2.6 Taking drawings into account ......................................... 59
2.7 Taking examples into account ......................................... 60
2.8 Assessment of prior uses............................................. 61
2.9 Broad claims ....................................................... 64
2.10 Mistakes in a disclosure............................................. 64
2.11 Accidental disclosure ............................................... 65
2.12 Reproducibility of the content of the disclosure .......................... 66
3. Ascertaining differences ................................................. 67
3.1 Comparing each individual item from the prior art ......................... 67
3.2 Distinguishing features............................................... 69
3.2.1 Difference in wording ............................................ 69
3.2.2 Differences in values ............................................ 70
3.2.3 Difference in composition ........................................ 71
3.2.4 Inevitably obtained products ...................................... 71
3.2.5 Functional features ............................................. 72
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Contents
3.2.6 Generic disclosure .............................................. 72
3.2.7 Product claim with process features ................................ 72
4. Chemical inventions and selection inventions ................................ 72
4.1 Novelty of chemical compounds and groups of compounds ................. 73
4.1.1 Anticipation of certain compounds ................................. 74
4.1.2 Novelty of groups of substances................................... 77
4.1.3 Novelty of enantiomeres ......................................... 78
4.1.4 Achieving a higher degree of purity ................................ 79
4.2 Selection of parameter ranges......................................... 80
4.2.1 Selection from a broad range ..................................... 80
4.2.2. Overlapping ranges ............................................ 82
4.2.3 Multiple selection ............................................... 83
4.3 Subject-matter group ................................................ 85
5. Novelty of use ......................................................... 85
5.1 First medical use ................................................... 85
5.1.1 Introduction ................................................... 85
5.1.2 Scope of a purpose-related product claim ........................... 86
5.1.3 Protection of a preparation in the form of a "kit-of-parts" ................ 87
5.2 Second (further) medical use.......................................... 88
5.2.1 Formulation of claims ........................................... 88
5.2.2 Novelty of the new therapeutical application ......................... 91
5.2.3 Inventive step of the new therapeutical application .................... 94
5.3 Second (further) non-medical use ...................................... 95
5.3.1 Novelty criteria for non-medical use claims .......................... 95
5.3.2 Statement of purpose in non-medical use claims .................... 100
5.3.3 Disclosure of an equivalent article without an indication of the particular
use claimed ....................................................... 100
D. Inventive step ....................................................... 101
1. Introduction .......................................................... 101
2. Problem and solution approach .......................................... 101
3. Closest prior art ....................................................... 102
3.1 Determination of closest prior art - general .............................. 102
3.2 Same purpose or effect ............................................. 102
3.3 Similarity of technical problem ........................................ 103
3.4 Most promising springboard ......................................... 103
3.5 Selection of most promising starting point .............................. 104
3.6 Improvement of a production process for a known product ................. 105
3.7 Old prior art documents as closest prior art ............................. 105
4. Technical problem ..................................................... 106
4.1 Determination of the technical problem................................. 106
4.2 Ex-post-facto analysis - no pointers to the solution ....................... 107
4.3 Problem formulated in the contested patent ............................. 107
4.4 Alleged advantages ................................................ 108
4.5 Reformulation of the problem......................................... 108
4.6 Alternative solution to a known problem ................................ 110
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Contents
5. Skilled person ........................................................ 110
5.1 Definition of the skilled person - team of experts ......................... 110
5.1.1 Definition .................................................... 110
5.1.2 Group of people as "skilled person" ............................... 111
5.1.3 Definition of the person skilled in the art in the field of biotechnology..... 111
5.2 Neighbouring field ................................................. 113
5.3 Skilled person - level of knowledge ................................... 114
5.4 Everyday items from a different technical field ........................... 115
6. Proof of inventive step.................................................. 116
6.1 "Could-would approach" and ex post facto analysis ...................... 116
6.2 Expectation of success, especially in the field of genetic engineering
and biotechnology .................................................... 117
6.3 Technical disclosure in a prior art document ............................ 119
6.4 Combination invention .............................................. 119
6.4.1 Existence of a combination invention .............................. 119
6.4.2 Partial problems ............................................... 120
6.5 Features not contributing to the solution of the problem ................... 121
6.6 Foreseeable disadvantageous or technically non-functional modifications .... 122
6.7 Substitution of materials - analogous use ............................... 122
6.8 Combination of documents .......................................... 123
6.9 Chemical inventions ................................................ 124
6.9.1 Structural similarity............................................. 124
6.9.2 Broad claims ................................................. 125
6.9.3 Intermediate products .......................................... 125
6.10 Equivalents ...................................................... 126
6.11 Problem inventions................................................ 127
6.12 New use of a known measure ....................................... 127
6.13 Obvious new use ................................................. 128
6.14 Need to improve properties ......................................... 129
6.15 Disclaimer ....................................................... 129
6.16 Optimisation of parameters ......................................... 130
6.17 Small improvement in commercially used process ...................... 131
6.18 Evidence of inventive step in the field of medicine ....................... 131
6.19 Analogy process/Envisageable product ............................... 132
6.20 Examples of the denial of inventive step............................... 132
6.20.1 Reversal of procedural steps ................................... 132
6.20.2 Purposive selection ........................................... 132
6.20.3 Automation .................................................. 133
6.20.4 Routine experiments .......................................... 133
6.20.5 Simplification of complicated technology .......................... 133
7. Secondary indicia in determining inventive step ............................. 133
7.1 General issues .................................................... 133
7.2 Prejudice in the art ................................................. 134
7.3 Age of documents/time factor ........................................ 135
7.4 Satisfaction of a long-felt need ....................................... 136
7.5 Commercial success ............................................... 136
7.6 Simple solution .................................................... 138
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7.7 Surprising effect ................................................... 138
7.7.1 "Bonus effect" ................................................ 138
7.7.2 Comparative tests ............................................. 140
E. The requirement of industrial applicability under Article 57 EPC ........... 141
1. Notion of "industrial application" .......................................... 141
2. Indicia in determining industrial applicability ................................ 143
2.1 Methods applied in the private and personal sphere ...................... 143
2.2 Possibility of services offered by an enterprise........................... 143
3. Other criteria - Formulation of claims ...................................... 144
II. CONDITIONS TO BE MET BY AN APPLICATION .......................... 145
A. Sufficiency of disclosure.............................................. 145
1. Parts of the application relevant for assessing sufficiency of disclosure .......... 145
2. Knowledge of skilled person relevant for assessing sufficiency of disclosure ...... 145
3. Clarity and completeness of disclosure .................................... 146
4. Reproducibility without undue burden ..................................... 148
5. Biotechnology ........................................................ 149
5.1 Clarity and completeness of disclosure................................. 149
5.1.1 The extent to which the invention must be reproducible ............... 149
5.2.2 Reproducibility without undue burden ............................. 150
5.3 Deposit of living material ............................................ 152
5.3.1 Substantive questions .......................................... 152
5.3.2 Procedural questions........................................... 153
6. The relationship between Article 83 EPC and Article 84 EPC .................. 154
6.1 Article 83 EPC and support from the description ......................... 154
6.2 Article 83 EPC and clarity of claims.................................... 155
7. Evidence ............................................................ 156
B. Claims.............................................................. 156
1. Clarity ............................................................... 157
1.1 Text of the claims ................................................. 157
1.1.1 General principles ............................................. 157
1.1.2 Essential features ............................................. 158
1.1.3 Clarity of broad claims .......................................... 159
1.1.4 Categories of claim ............................................ 160
1.2 Exceptions to the principles .......................................... 161
1.2.1 Admissibility of disclaimer ....................................... 161
1.2.2 Broad claims ................................................. 162
2. Conciseness ......................................................... 165
3. Claims supported by the description ...................................... 166
4. Interpretation of claims ................................................. 168
4.1 General .......................................................... 168
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Contents
4.2 Meaning of terms .................................................. 168
4.3 Relevance of Art. 69 EPC ........................................... 169
5. Form of the claims .................................................... 171
6. Product-by-process claims .............................................. 172
6.1 Introduction ....................................................... 172
6.2 Requirement that the claimed product must be patentable ................. 173
6.3 Requirement that the claimed product cannot be described in any other way .. 174
6.4 Combination of product and process features ........................... 174
6.5 Extension of protection conferred by product-by-process claims ............ 175
7. Claims fees .......................................................... 175
C. Unity of invention .................................................... 176
1. Introduction .......................................................... 176
2. Plurality of independent claims ........................................... 176
2.1 General issues .................................................... 176
2.2 Independent claims in different categories .............................. 177
3. Dependent claims ..................................................... 178
4. Intermediate products .................................................. 179
5. Basis for lack of unity assessment ........................................ 180
5.1 General issues .................................................... 180
5.2 Assessment of lack of unity by the International Search Authority ........... 181
5.3 Assessment of lack of unity in examination proceedings................... 182
5.4 Assessment of lack of unity in opposition proceedings .................... 183
6. Criteria for determining lack of unity ....................................... 184
6.1 Determination of the technical problem underlying the invention ............ 184
6.2 Examination as to novelty and inventive step............................ 185
7. The single general inventive concept...................................... 186
7.1 A single general concept ............................................ 186
7.2 Inventive character of the single general concept ........................ 188
7.3 Unity of single claims defining alternatives ("Markush claims") .............. 190
8. Plurality of inventions and further search fees ............................... 192
8.1 Consequences of non-payment of a further search fee .................... 192
8.2 Dispensing with further search fee .................................... 194
8.3 Further invitations to pay additional search fees ......................... 194
III. AMENDMENTS ...................................................... 197
A. Article 123(2) EPC .................................................... 197
1. Content of the application as originally filed................................. 197
1.1 General issues .................................................... 197
1.2 Technical contribution: addition or deletion of a feature .................... 201
1.3 Disclosure in drawings ............................................. 204
1.4 Cross-references .................................................. 206
1.5 Errors in the disclosure ............................................. 207
1.5.1 Calculation errors.............................................. 207
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