4.5.1 Opinion G 1/04 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal

The President of the EPO made a referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal on points of law relating to the interpretation of the term "diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body". The Enlarged Board of Appeal emphasised in opinion G 1/04 (OJ 2006, 334) that its interpretation of the scope of the exclusion from patentability under Art. 52(4) EPC 1973 in respect of diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body would remain valid under the EPC 2000.