T 0119/88 (Coloured disk jacket) of 25.04.1989

1. The feature of having a specific colour or any of a specified range of colours may cause an invention to be excluded from patentability under Article 52(2) EPC, paragraph b), (aesthetic creations) and/or paragraph (d) (presentations of information), when the invention only concerns that feature as such within the meaning of Article 52(3) EPC.

2. Article 52 EPC, paragraph 3 is construed to mean that an invention is excluded from patentability when its contribution to the prior art is entirely within a field which is excluded from patentability within the meaning of paragraph 2 of that Article. Such an invention is not an invention within the meaning of paragraph 1 of the same article (as construed in decision T 38/86, OJ EPO 1990, 384).

3. The feature of having a specific colour or any of a specified range of colours does cause an otherwise known invention to be excluded from patentability when the effects produced by that feature in its combination with said known invention constitute a contribution to the prior art solely within the fields excluded from patentability under Article 52(2)(b), (d) and 52(3) EPC.