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The European Patent Convention

 
 
Table of Contents - The European Patent Convention
Implementing Regulations to the Convention on the Grant of European Patents
Part III Implementing Regulations to Part III of the Convention
Chapter II Provisions governing the application
Rule 44 Unity of invention
Rule 44
Unity of invention 
Art. 78
(1)
Where a group of inventions is claimed in a European patent application, the requirement of unity of invention under Article 82 shall be fulfilled only when there is a technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features. The expression "special technical features" shall mean those features which define a contribution which each of the claimed inventions considered as a whole makes over the prior art.
(2)
The determination whether a group of inventions is so linked as to form a single general inventive concept shall be made without regard to whether the inventions are claimed in separate claims or as alternatives within a single claim. 
References
Art. 78
 
Cross-reference list
EPC EPC 1973
R. 44 R. 30