1.12.3 Amendment based on erroneous figure in the disclosure

In T 740/91 the board allowed a change in the upper limit of a range from 5 % to 0.6 %. The value of 0.6 % was explicitly disclosed in example IV. However, the patentee conceded that this figure had been inserted in error in place of the true figure of 0.49 %. The board concluded that the fact that the figure was wrong did not alter the fact that it was actually and credibly disclosed in the application as filed. It could thus be relied on as the basis for the new upper limit. This interpretation was consistent with the underlying intention of Art. 123(2) EPC 1973, which was to protect the public from being faced at a later stage with claims which were wider in their scope than what had been disclosed in the application as filed, and published for the information of the public, including the applicant's competitors.