Tuesday, December 01, 2020 T 670/19 - Technical character of a scale for evaluating in a clinical setting

The subject of this examination decision was a scale for evaluating the lips and mouth region in a clinical setting. This type of scale could be utilized to assess the effectiveness of new lip enhancement techniques.

The claim in question, for example, features a "lip fullness scale" including images of human mouth areas.

Initially, objections were raised during examination that the claims lacked novelty. However, these objections were overcome, and the claims were then challenged for lacking technical character. The examining division argued that the claim related to purely abstract subject matter and thus did not meet the requirements of Article 52(2) and (3) of the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The Board of Appeal did not concur with this argument and found that the illustrations indicated a physical representation and thus had technical character. As a result, the case was remitted.

Wednesday, July 01, 2020 T 1294/15 - A business method claim without claiming the business is still a business method

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

In affiliate reward programs, rewards might need to be divided among different participants; in the claim between a content manager and an introduction page manager. Instead of dividing up each reward among the parties, the application proposes to sometimes award the full amount to one single party and sometimes to another single party. Overtime this balances out so that the rewards are are about equal to exact division. The new scheme is more efficient since it needs fewer divisions. 

The board doesn't like the claim, as it represents a business method. However the applicant makes an interesting argument. By stripping all the business aspects of the claim, one is left with merely an improved division algorithm. If the stripped claim is technical and inventive then surely further restricting it can't remove patentability? Unfortunately for the applicant this argument is not accepted. 

Friday, June 12, 2020 T 1798/13: Improving accuracy of forecasted weather data is akin to a scientific discovery, so not technical

The invention relates to a method and system for forecasting the value of a weather-based financial product using forecasted weather data. This data is derived from historical weather data for a defined time and geographical area and is processed to obtain a "quality indicator", which is indicative of the reliability of the forecasted data. The quality indicator is then used to forecast the value of the financial product. The application was refused for lack of inventive step, because in the opinion of the Examining division, no technical problem was solved.

In appeal, the applicant argued that although the use of weather data to calculate the value of a financial product had no technical character, the invention improved the reliability and predictability of weather forecast data in general, which was a technical problem.

The Board disagreed and observed that "the weather" is not a technical system, but is a physical system that can be modelled to show how it works.  In its view, this kind of modelling is considered to be a discovery or a scientific theory, which are not regarded as inventions under Art. 52(2)(a). The Board concluded that the improvement lay in the processing of data to achieve a more accurate weather forecast, i.e. an improved model using a scientific theory, which could contribute to technical character.

The appeal was dismissed. 

Friday, November 22, 2019 T 1372/11 - Issuing a hardcopy cerificate is technical

Claim 1 of this application concerned an issuing machine for a hardcopy certificate which allowed a user to request a transaction of a security or fixed rate financing instrument. The claim did not have a happy reception at the Examining division. A declaration of no-search was issued, and the search opinion found the claims to be not-inventive starting from the 'general purpose networked computer system'. In the eventual decision to refuse, a single document D1 was cited.  

The board does not share the views of the Examining division, and concludes that the claim has sufficient technical elements that improve the security of the hardcopy certificate. The board finds that the claim before it, is inventive over D1.  

The board does not conclude with an order for further prosecution, as might be expected but introduces two new documents on its own motion and continues examination of the claim, in the end concluding that the claim is also novel and inventive over those documents. An order to grant is issued. 

Thursday, April 12, 2018 T 2101/12 - Non-technical disclosures are prior art

In the appealed decision, D2 (a US patent application) was cited in a reasoning against novelty. One could therefore be led to believe that this document constitutes at least the most suitable starting point for the assessment of inventive step. The board is however of the opinion that such is not the case (r.6.1). The board also does not consider the document mentioned by the appellant, i.e. D3, or other documents cited in the search report, to be more suitable starting points. Instead, the board considers that the most suitable starting point is common general knowledge. The board considers it common general knowledge that documents, such as a will or a contract between parties, may be signed at a notary's office. In the present case, the board holds that the skilled person starts from this prior art method with zero technical features, the problem which consists in the automation of that method being solved entirely with technical means (r.7.15).
The appellant submitted that something can only be state of the art if it is related to a technological field or a field from which, because of its informational character, a skilled person would expect to derive technically relevant information, referring to T 172/03. The board agrees with the appellant that this opinion is not in line with Catchword 2 of T 172/03 (as also relied upon in the Guidelines for Examination G-VII, 2), unless one interprets the expression "technically relevant" in that Catchword in a trivial manner. The board however considers that the interpretation of Article 54(2) EPC given in T 172/03 is incorrect. 
The applicant also requested to refer to the Enlarged Board: In the assessment of the inventive step of subject matter presenting both technical and non-technical aspects, a problem-solution analysis using a publicly known entirely non-technical practice as "closest prior art", notwithstanding the existence of technical teachings in the same field? The Board did not consider this necessary (r.8)

Wednesday, May 10, 2017 T 1463/11 - Business person versus Skilled person

Is it technical to centralize a function?

The appeal concerns a centralized merchant authentication processing system. The Examining division rejected the application as a "straight-forward implementation of an administrative (outsourced payment) scheme using a notorious distributed information". Initially, also the Board did much like the invention. In the summons, the Board considered the invention to be a "straightforward implementation, on a standard computer network, of non-technical measures (business measures and programming measures)".

Something must have happened after that because the appeal resulted in an order to grant. The reasons provide a detailed discussion of the 'business person' versus the 'skilled person'. 

Sunday, November 20, 2016 T 1802/13 - Medical imaging - is presenting the information technical?

In this decision it needs to be settled if in medical imaging the claimed superposition of a leadwire has a technical effect. The Board goes into the discussion of presentation of information, differentiating between what is presented and how it is presented (cognitive aspect). Regarding the technicality of the manner in which (i.e. "how") information is presented - the main issue to be established is whether the underlying user interface together with the manner in which cognitive content is presented credibly assists the user in performing a technical task by means of a continued and guided human-machine interaction process (basically related to the question "for what purpose" the content is presented). The Board decides that it is not derivable from the claim - beyond mere speculation - that it credibly brings about the technical effect of accurately predicting the electrodes' properties and providing that information to the surgeon in an efficient manner. The case is dismissed as lacking inventive step.