Tuesday, January 05, 2016 T 336/14 - Providing instructions with a device

No instructions were provided with this blood orange

This opposition appeal concerns a blood treatment machine which is distinguished from the prior art by displaying "operating instructions for readying the machine for use" and at least two "pictographs which represent configurations of the machine correlated to the operating instructions".

These features are on the one hand presentation of information but on the other hand are related to technical interaction with a machine. Unfortunately for the proprietor these technical aspects do not save his claim. 

I find the discussion also interesting because the claim is close to claim 3 of EQE Paper C of 2008 (pdf). Already then candidates who wanted to become an attorney had to argue that providing novel instructions together with a device does not render the claim inventive. Nevertheless, so many years later the discussion of this problem by the board shows that this question is not as straightforward as might at first glance seem.