EPC Flashcards
Article 52 EPC - Patentable inventions
(1) EPs shall be granted for…
(2) - not regarded as inventions
(3) - (2) exclusion
(1)European patents shall be granted for any inventions, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application.
(2)The following in particular shall not be regarded as inventions within the meaning of paragraph 1:
(a)discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
(b)aesthetic creations;
(c)schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games or doing business, and programs for computers;
(d)presentations of information.
(3)Paragraph 2 shall exclude the patentability of the subject-matter or activities referred to therein only to the extent to which a European patent application or European patent relates to such subject-matter or activities as such.
Article 53
Exceptions to patentability
European patents shall not be granted in respect of:
(a)inventions the commercial exploitation of which would be contrary to “ordre public” or morality; such exploitation shall not be deemed to be so contrary merely because it is prohibited by law or regulation in some or all of the Contracting States;
(b)plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals; this provision shall not apply to microbiological processes or the products thereof;
(c)methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body; this provision shall not apply to products, in particular substances or compositions, for use in any of these methods.
Article 54
Novelty
(1)An invention shall be considered to be new if it does not form part of the state of the art.
(2)The state of the art shall be held to comprise everything made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way, before the date of filing of the European patent application.
(3)Additionally, the content of European patent applications as filed, the dates of filing of which are prior to the date referred to in paragraph 2 and which were published on or after that date, shall be considered as comprised in the state of the art.
(4) Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall not exclude the patentability of any substance or composition, comprised in the state of the art, for use in a method referred to in Article 53(c), provided that its use for any such method is not comprised in the state of the art.
(5) Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall also not exclude the patentability of any substance or composition referred to in paragraph 4 for any specific use in a method referred to in Article 53(c), provided that such use is not comprised in the state of the art.
Article 55
Non-prejudicial disclosures
(1)For the application of Article 54, a disclosure of the invention shall not be taken into consideration if it occurred no earlier than six months preceding the filing of the European patent application and if it was due to, or in consequence of:
(a)an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or his legal predecessor, or
(b)the fact that the applicant or his legal predecessor has displayed the invention at an official, or officially recognised, international exhibition falling within the terms of the Convention on international exhibitions signed at Paris on 22 November 1928 and last revised on 30 November 1972.
(2)In the case of paragraph 1(b), paragraph 1 shall apply only if the applicant states, when filing the European patent application, that the invention has been so displayed and files a supporting certificate within the time limit and under the conditions laid down in the Implementing Regulations.
Article 56
Inventive step
An invention shall be considered as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the state of the art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art. If the state of the art also includes documents within the meaning of Article 54, paragraph 3, these documents shall not be considered in deciding whether there has been an inventive step.
Article 57
Industrial application
An invention shall be considered as susceptible of industrial application if it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture.
Article 69
Extent of protection
1) The extent of the protection conferred by a European patent or a European patent application shall be determined by the claims. Nevertheless, the description and drawings shall be used to interpret the claims.
(2)For the period up to grant of the European patent, the extent of the protection conferred by the European patent application shall be determined by the claims contained in the application as published. However, the European patent as granted or as amended in opposition, limitation or revocation proceedings shall determine retroactively the protection conferred by the application, in so far as such protection is not thereby extended.
Article 82 – Unity of invention
The European patent application shall relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept.
Article 83 – Disclosure of the invention
The European patent application shall disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art.
Article 84 – Claims
The claims shall define the matter for which protection is sought. They shall be clear and concise and be supported by the description.
Rule 42
Content of the description
1(a)-(c) - part of the summary in paper A
1(d)-(f) - part of the detailed desc
(1)The description shall:
(a)specify the technical field to which the invention relates;
(b)indicate the background art which, as far as is known to the applicant, can be regarded as useful to understand the invention, draw up the European search report and examine the European patent application, and, preferably, cite the documents reflecting such art;
(c)disclose the invention, as claimed, in such terms that the technical problem, even if not expressly stated as such, and its solution can be understood, and state any advantageous effects of the invention with reference to the background art;
(d)briefly describe the figures in the drawings, if any;
(e)describe in detail at least one way of carrying out the invention claimed, using examples where appropriate and referring to the drawings, if any;
(f)indicate explicitly, when it is not obvious from the description or nature of the invention, the way in which the invention is industrially applicable.
(2)The description shall be presented in the manner and order specified in paragraph 1, unless, owing to the nature of the invention, a different presentation would afford a better understanding or be more concise.
Rule 43
Form and content of claims
(1) The claims shall contain:
(2) more than one ind claim in the same category if:
(3) (4) Dep claims
(5) Number of claims
(6)(7) references in claims
(1)The claims shall define the matter for which protection is sought in terms of the technical features of the invention. Wherever appropriate, claims shall contain:
(a)a statement indicating the designation of the subject-matter of the invention and those technical features which are necessary for the definition of the claimed subject-matter but which, in combination, form part of the prior art;
(b)a characterising portion, beginning with the expression “characterised in that” or “characterised by” and specifying the technical features for which, in combination with the features stated under sub-paragraph (a), protection is sought.
(2)Without prejudice to Article 82, a European patent application may contain more than one independent claim in the same category (product, process, apparatus or use) only if the subject-matter of the application involves one of the following:
(a)a plurality of interrelated products,
(b)different uses of a product or apparatus,
(c)alternative solutions to a particular problem,
where it is inappropriate to cover these alternatives by a single claim.
(3)Any claim stating the essential features of an invention may be followed by one or more claims concerning particular embodiments of that invention.
(4)Any claim which includes all the features of any other claim (dependent claim) shall contain, if possible at the beginning, a reference to the other claim and then state the additional features. A dependent claim directly referring to another dependent claim shall also be admissible. All dependent claims referring back to a single previous claim, and all dependent claims referring back to several previous claims, shall be grouped together to the extent and in the most appropriate way possible.
(5)The number of claims shall be reasonable with regard to the nature of the invention claimed. The claims shall be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals.
(6)Except where absolutely necessary, claims shall not rely on references to the description or drawings in specifying the technical features of the invention. In particular, they shall not contain such expressions as “as described in part … of the description”, or “as illustrated in figure … of the drawings”.
(7)Where the European patent application contains drawings including reference signs, the technical features specified in the claims shall preferably be followed by such reference signs relating to these features, placed in parentheses, if the intelligibility of the claim can thereby be increased. These reference signs shall not be construed as limiting the claim.
Rule 44
Unity of invention
(1)Where a group of inventions is claimed in a European patent application, the requirement of unity of invention under Article 82 shall be fulfilled only when there is a technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features. The expression “special technical features” shall mean those features which define a contribution which each of the claimed inventions considered as a whole makes over the prior art.
(2)The determination whether a group of inventions is so linked as to form a single general inventive concept shall be made without regard to whether the inventions are claimed in separate claims or as alternatives within a single claim.
