4.2 Interpretation 

The claims are the starting point and the basis for assessing the patentability of an invention under Arts. 52 to Art. 57. The description and any drawings are always referred to when interpreting the claims, and not just in the case of a lack of clarity or ambiguity (G 1/24).

However, when assessing patentability, the description and drawings cannot be relied on to read into the claim a restrictive feature not suggested by the wording of the claim.

If, on the other hand, the description provides a special broad definition of a term used in a claim, the claim must be interpreted in the light of that broad definition when assessing patentability, provided this interpretation is technically meaningful.

Otherwise, each claim must be read giving the words the meaning and scope which they normally have in the relevant art unless.

If, in particular cases, the description gives the words a special meaning by explicit definition or otherwise. Moreover, if such a special meaning applies, the division will, so far as possible, require that the claim to be amended in such a way thatwhereby the meaning is clear from the wording of the claim alone. This is important because it is only the claims of the European patent, not the description, which will be published in all official EPO languages. The claim must also be read with an attempt to make technical sense out of it. Such a reading may involve a departure from the strict literal meaning of the wording of the claims. Art. 69 and its Protocol do not provide a basis for excluding what is literally covered by the terms of the claims (see T 223/05).