T 0172/03 (Order management/RICOH) of 27.11.2003
- European Case Law Identifier
- ECLI:EP:BA:2003:T017203.20031127
- Date of decision
- 27 November 2003
- Case number
- T 0172/03
- Petition for review of
- -
- Application number
- 96115736.9
- IPC class
- G06F 17/60
- Language of proceedings
- English
- Distribution
- Distributed to board chairmen (C)
- Download
- Decision in English
- OJ versions
- No OJ links found
- Other decisions for this case
- -
- Abstracts for this decision
- -
- Application title
- Order management system and method considering budget limit
- Applicant name
- Ricoh Company, Ltd.
- Opponent name
- -
- Board
- 3.5.01
- Headnote
- -
- Relevant legal provisions
- European Patent Convention Art 52(1) 1973European Patent Convention Art 54 1973European Patent Convention Art 56 1973
- Keywords
- Inventive step (no)
- Catchword
- 1. The term "state of the art" in Article 54 EPC should, in compliance with the French and German text, be understood as "state of technology", which in the context of the EPC does not include the state of the art in commerce and business methods. The term "everything" in Article 54(2) EPC is to be understood as concerning such kind of information which is relevant to some field of technology.
2. From these considerations it follows that anything which is not related to any technological field or field from which, because of its informational character, a skilled person would expect to derive any technically relevant information, does not belong to the state of the art to be considered in the context of Articles 54 and 56, even if it had been made available to the general public before the relevant priority date (see points 8 to 10 of the reasons).
ORDER
For these reasons it is decided that:
The appeal is dismissed.