1.8.2 Generalisation and claim category

In T 784/89 (OJ 1992, 438) the patent application as filed explicitly disclosed a computer-controlled method for producing a particular effect. By reference to another patent application an apparatus was implicitly disclosed comprising a programmable component which, when suitably programmed, was used for the claimed method. The board considered that only this specific combination had been disclosed. To claim an apparatus for carrying out that method was considered an inadmissible extension of the application because the claim covered apparatus which could also be used in other methods and to achieve other effects. The only allowable claim was for an apparatus for carrying out a method comprising a programmable component which could be suitably programmed to carry out the method.