T 0038/86 (Text processing) of 14.2.1989

European Case Law Identifier: ECLI:EP:BA:1989:T003886.19890214
Date of decision: 14 February 1989
Case number: T 0038/86
Application number: 83102553.1
IPC class: G06F 15/20
Language of proceedings: EN
Distribution: A
Download and more information:
Decision text in EN (PDF, 782 KB)
Documentation of the appeal procedure can be found in the Register
Bibliographic information is available in: EN
Versions: OJ | Published
Title of application: -
Applicant name: IBM
Opponent name: -
Board: 3.5.01
Headnote: 1. A person who is detecting and replacing linguistic expressions which exceed a predetermined understandability level in a list of linguistic expressions using only his skill and judgment is performing mental acts within the meaning of Article 52(2)(c) EPC. Accordingly, schemes, rules and methods used in performing them are not inventions within the meaning of Article 52(1) EPC.
2. Since according to Article 52(3) EPC patentability is excluded only to the extent to which the patent application relates to subject-matter or activities summarised in Article 52(2) as such, it appears to be the intention of the EPC to permit patenting in those cases in which the invention involves some contribution to the art in a field not excluded from patentability.
3. The use of technical means for carrying out a method for performing mental acts, partly or entirely without human intervention, may, having regard to Article 52(3) EPC, render such a method a technical process or method and therefore an invention within the meaning of Article 52(1) EPC.
4. However, if the technical implementation of such a method is obvious to a person skilled in the technical art, once the steps of the method for performing the mental acts have been defined, so that there is no inventive contribution in a field not excluded from patentability under Article 52(2)(c) EPC, such method does not involve an inventive step within the meaning of Article 56 EPC.
5. If a claim for an apparatus (here: a text processing system) for carrying out a method does not specify any technical features beyond those already comprised in a claim pertaining to said method and furthermore does not define the apparatus in terms of its physical structure, but only in functional terms corresponding to the steps of said method, the claimed apparatus does not contribute anything more to the art than the method, in spite of the fact that the claim is formulated in a different category. In such a case, if the method is excluded from patentability, so is the apparatus.
Relevant legal provisions:
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 52(1)
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 52(2)(c)
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 52(3)
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 56
Keywords: Method for performing mental acts
Mental acts - method for performing
Mix of technical and non-technical features
Inventive step (denied)
Text processing
Catchwords:

-

Cited decisions:
-
Citing decisions:
G 0003/08
T 0107/87
T 0236/91
T 0666/91
T 0833/91
T 0962/91
T 0167/92
T 0265/92
T 0769/92
T 0775/92
T 1002/92
T 0059/93
T 0572/93
T 0190/94
T 0619/02
T 0258/03
T 0309/05
T 1397/05
T 0144/11
T 1461/12

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