3.1. Introduction

The Enlarged Board did not address in G 4/19 (OJ 2022, A24) the question of what "the same subject-matter" meant in the context of double patenting as this was not the subject of the referral before it. According to the majority case law of the boards of appeal, a mere overlap of claimed subject-matter and/or scope of protection does not prejudice the grant of a patent (see T 587/98, OJ 2000, 497, T 877/06, T 1491/06, T 1391/07, T 2402/10, T 2461/10, T 1780/12, T 621/15, T 1252/16, T 2907/19; different view in T 307/03 and T 1128/19). On the relevance of the scope of protection for the issue of double patenting, see e.g. T 1780/12 and T 2563/11.