T 1865/22 vom 21.10.2024

Inventive step
Amendment to appeal case
Obligation to raise objections - objection dismissed

The mere fact that claimed subject-matter excludes a technical feature disclosed in the closest prior art as being essential or advantageous for a technical effect cannot in itself establish the existence of an inventive step. Rather, where the exclusion of the technical feature in question is the only feature distinguishing the claimed subject-matter from the closest prior art, it must be shown that the claimed subject-matter achieves said technical effect to an extent comparable to that of the closest prior art, even without this feature. Without such proof, the claimed subject-matter merely results in an obvious deterioration of the technical effect described in the closest prior art (see point 5.3 of the Reasons).