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Thursday, August 18, 2005

EPO Board Of Appeal on the Meaning of a Functional Feature in a Product Claim.

From a recently published decision

T 0132/02 of the Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.1 of the European Patent Office concerning European Patent application No. 95304215.7:

"A functional feature in a product claim should be construed as an implicit definition of those structural features which are necessary to achieve a particular effect when the product is used or applied in accordance with the teaching inherent in the claim; the effect to be achieved and the use should be disclosed in the application. The capability of attaining such a particular effect may thus be considered as an implicit feature of the product itself, even if the realization of the particular effect requires a particular use or interaction with another product, system or apparatus, provided that such use or interaction are disclosed in the application."

These findings are of particular importance when it comes to a proper understanding of certain classes of claims concerning computer-implemented inventions in general.

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