Key points
- Quotes in machine translation. Sufficiency of disclosure is at issue.
- " In a communication pursuant to Article 15(1) RPBA 2020, the parties were informed of the Board's preliminary opinion. Subsequently, the patent proprietor put forward further arguments regarding the feasibility of the method according to claim 12. .... The patent proprietor once again expressly pointed out that the process according to FIG. 6 could be carried out. Contrary to the earlier comments in the reply (page 2, the last two paragraphs), the opponent itself agreed."
- " The opponent acknowledged that the flow chart of Figure 6 shows an embodiment of the claimed method and that it can be carried out. However, the claim wording is much broader than what is shown by this embodiment and the timings of Figures 5b and 5c. In its breadth, the method of claim 12 would not be feasible. "
- "Apart from the fact that the board is not bound by the interpretation of the claims by the parties (T 1513/12, point 4.2.2), the opponent's view that the wording of claim 12 is too broad [broader than?] with regard to the teaching of FIG. 6 is not convincing for the reason that it is based on the assumption that FIG. 6 corresponds to an exemplary embodiment of the invention. That's not the case. ... contrary to what the opponents claim, the method of Figure 6 in no way corresponds to the definition in claim 12."
- Interestingly, the post on T 1513/12 ( "Agreement parties does not bind Board")
is the most popular post on my weblog, though mostly with views n 2018. - ". The features of claim 12, which are clear in themselves, result in a meaningless and thus vague definition of the claimed method (Article 83 EPC). An interpretation of claim 12 in the sense of the embodiment of Figure 6 is excluded under the present circumstances. "
- The wording of the claim does not provide a meaningful interpretation of the claim. The method of claim 12 is not executable within the meaning of Article 100(b) EPC because of the existence of mutually exclusive conditions.
EPO
The link to the decision is provided after the jump.
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