T 0854/90 (Card Reader) of 19.03.1992
- European Case Law Identifier
- ECLI:EP:BA:1992:T085490.19920319
- Date of decision
- 19 March 1992
- Case number
- T 0854/90
- Petition for review of
- -
- Application number
- 84114432.2
- IPC class
- G07F 7/10
- Language of proceedings
- English
- Distribution
- Published in the EPO's Official Journal (A)
- Download
- Decision in English
- Other decisions for this case
- -
- Abstracts for this decision
- -
- Application title
- -
- Applicant name
- IBM
- Opponent name
- -
- Board
- 3.4.01
- Headnote
1. The proper interpretation of the word "inventions" in Article 52(1) EPC requires a claimed subject-matter or activity to have a technical character and thus in principle to be industrially applicable, if it is to be patentable - following Decisions T 208/84 (OJ EPO 1987, 4) and T 22/85 (OJ EPO 1990, 12).
2. A claim which, when taken as a whole, is essentially a business operation, does not have a technical character and is not a claim to a patentable invention within the meaning of Article 52(1) EPC, even though the claimed method includes steps which include a technical component. The true nature of the claimed subject-matter remains the same, even though some technical means are used to perform it.
- Relevant legal provisions
- European Patent Convention Art 52(1) 1973European Patent Convention Art 52(2) 1973European Patent Convention Art 52(3) 1973European Patent Convention Art 56 1973
- Keywords
- Method of reading and authorising cards using a machine
Method of doing business
Not an invention
Not patentable subject-matter
Also no inventive step - Catchword
- -
- Cited cases
- -
ORDER
For these reasons, it is decided that:
The appeal is dismissed.