The EPO favours the problem-solution approach in the assessment of inventive step. This involves identifying the closest prior art, as the prior art document that provides the most promising starting point for an obviousness attack. However, the step of identification of the closest prior art in the problem-solution approach creates a potential tension with one of … Read More
Prior Art
EPO Assessment of Inventive Step when an Unusual Parameter is Claimed
Before the EPO, the standard requirement is that the technical effects of a claimed invention and that of the closest prior art can be directly compared. Where a claimed invention is described through reference to “an unusual parameter” such comparison is difficult. Recent EPO Board of Appeal decision T 0555/18 is a caution against defining an … Read More
Prior Art Documents in the form of Electronic Evidence at the EPO
In T3000/19, the EPO Technical Board of Appeal provided guidance on the use of internet disclosures as prior art. Internet disclosures can form part of the state of the art but the reliability of the evidence must be preserved where such disclosures are cited against a European patent application. The EPO Guidelines for Examination provide … Read More