T 1020/98 (Safeners/BAYER) of 27.6.2003 | XEPC: EPC and PCT resource

European Case Law Identifier:

ECLI:EP:BA:2003:T102098.20030627

Date of decision:

27 June 2003

Case number:

T 1020/98

Application number:

93112074.5

IPC class:

C07C 69/712

Language of proceedings:

Distribution:

Download and more information:

Decision text in EN (PDF, 62Â KB)
Documentation of the appeal procedure can be found in the Register
Bibliographic information is available in:	DE \| EN \| FR
Versions:	OJ

Title of application:

Applicant name:

Bayer CropScience GmbH

Opponent name:

Board:

3.3.01

Headnote:

I. Compliance with the clarity requirement of Article 84 EPC is not dependent on the time required to establish whether a given compound is covered by the product claim. The clarity requirement is not a basis for objecting to the complexity of a claim, as complexity is not tantamount to lack of clarity. The simplicity of an individual claim is not a criterion for the granting of a patent under the EPC.
II. A Markush formula is the concisest means of defining a class of chemical compounds in a claim.
III. There is no legal basis in the EPC for a request to restrict the content of an independent claim so that substantive examination can be carried out with greater ease and less effort. Furthermore, under the EPC, making the examining division's work easier is not a prerequisite for starting substantive examination of a patent application.

Relevant legal provisions:

European Patent Convention 1973 Art 84
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 111(1)

Keywords:

Clarity (yes) - complex claim not unclear - within reasonable time - Markush formula - hierarchical structure of substituent definitions
Conciseness (yes) - Markush formula the most concise formulation of a class of chemical compounds - greater ease of substantive examination not determinative of the content of an independent claim

Catchwords:

Cited decisions:

G 0010/93
T 0574/96

Citing decisions:

T 0813/03

Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t981020ep1.html

Date retrieved: 17 May 2021