8.3.3 Textbooks, technical literature and common knowledge

In T 426/88 (OJ 1992, 427) the board held that a book providing general teaching in a general technical field covering the invention's specific technical field was part of the general knowledge of a specialist in that specific technical field. When books, representing common general knowledge, described a basic general technical theory or methodology and exemplified the same with specific applications in certain technical fields only, these did not limit the general scope and relevance of such disclosures so as to exclude possible applications in other fields. The appellant had argued that the book, written in German, was not a general reference book consulted by experts in that field in Great Britain. The board, however, adhered to the definition of the state of the art given in Art. 54 EPC 1973, according to which no account was taken of the location at which the skilled person exercised their profession. It was also of the view that the language of publication alone could not be decisive for the admissibility of a technical book representing the common general knowledge of the skilled person (see also T 1688/08). In T 2058/18 the board found that the (technically) skilled person might be considered a multilingual person but not normally a linguist (see also T 532/20).

In T 766/91 the board pointed out that information did not usually become common knowledge through publication in a given handbook or textbook; rather it appeared in handbooks or textbooks because it was already common knowledge. For this reason, publication in an encyclopaedia, say, could normally be taken as proof that the information was not only known but was common general knowledge. In T 378/93 the board added that the same applied to articles in scientific periodicals addressed primarily to qualified professionals and enjoying worldwide repute. In T 537/90 the board held that numerous publications in the specialist press over a fairly short time, reporting on meetings and research in a particularly active field of technology, could reflect common general knowledge in this field at that time. The board noted further in T 890/02 (OJ 2005, 497), that the skills of the skilled person included not only basic general knowledge of a particular field of technology, but also the ability to look up such knowledge in encyclopaedias and handbooks as well as, in exceptional cases, in a series of relevant studies, or in a scientific publication or a patent specification.

The board in T 1255/21 held that in a fast-moving field such as medical research, and in particular the field of oncology, review articles could be considered to reflect the skilled person's common general knowledge.