European Patent Office

T 0006/81 (Electrode slide) of 17.09.1981

European Case Law Identifier
ECLI:EP:BA:1981:T000681.19810917
Date of decision
17 September 1981
Case number
T 0006/81
Petition for review of
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Application number
78100557.4
IPC class
-
Language of proceedings
German
Distribution
Published in the EPO's Official Journal (A)
Download
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Other decisions for this case
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Abstracts for this decision
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Application title
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Applicant name
Siemens
Opponent name
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Board
3.2.02
Headnote

The division of the original Claim 1 into two parts justified the initial assumption that the features outlined in the first part (preamble) of that claim were not new in combination with one another. However, the first version of the claim could not be considered a binding statement as to the common novelty of these features. The applicant subsequently stated that he had been in error concerning the state of the art and accordingly applied to transfer one feature from the preamble to the characterising portion. The question whether the application could be allowed and what features were to be included in the preamble of an allowable Claim 1 then had to be decided in the light of the objective facts.

Keywords
Claim amendment
Inventive step - accepted - two part form
Inventive step - accepted - preamble of claim
State of the art - error
Widening of the problem
Catchword
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Cited cases
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ORDER

For these reasons, it is decided that:

The decision of the Examining Division of the European Patent Office of 5 November 1980 is set aside. The case is remitted to the first instance with the order to grant a European patent containing the 10 claims received on 14 July 1981 together with the description and drawing filed on the same date.