T 1450/16 (Acoustic port of a hearing device/SHURE) of 17.01.2020
- European Case Law Identifier
- ECLI:EP:BA:2020:T145016.20200117
- Date of decision
- 17 January 2020
- Case number
- T 1450/16
- Petition for review of
- -
- Application number
- 11193846.0
- IPC class
- H04R 1/10
- 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
- Earphone for sound reproduction
- Applicant name
- Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc.
- Opponent name
- -
- Board
- 3.5.03
- Headnote
- -
- Relevant legal provisions
- European Patent Convention Art 56Rules of procedure of the Boards of Appeal Art 13(1)
- Keywords
- Inventive step - main and second auxiliary request (no): selection of closest prior art to be made by the deciding body (T 855/15 followed)
Admission of late-filed first auxiliary request - (no): not clearly allowable - Catchword
- In the application of the problem-solution approach for the assessment of inventive step, the person skilled in the art within the meaning of Article
56 EPC enters the stage
only when
the objective technical problem has been formulated in view of the selected "closest prior art".
Only then can the notional
skilled person's relevant technical field and its extent be appropriately defined. Therefore, it cannot be the
"skilled person
" who selects
the closest prior art
in the first step of the problem-solution approach. Rather, this selection is to be
made by the relevant deciding body, on the basis of the established criteria,
in order to avoid any hindsight analysis
(see point
2.1.4 of the Reasons).
Order
For these reasons it is decided that:
The appeal is dismissed.