T 0854/90 (Card Reader) of 19.3.1992

European Case Law Identifier: ECLI:EP:BA:1992:T085490.19920319
Date of decision: 19 March 1992
Case number: T 0854/90
Application number: 84114432.2
IPC class: G07F 7/10
Language of proceedings: EN
Distribution: A
Download and more information:
Decision text in EN (PDF, 619 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: 3.4.01
Headnote: 1. The proper interpretation of the word "inventions" in Article 52(1) EPC requires a claimed subject-matter or activity to have a technical character and thus in principle to be industrially applicable, if it is to be patentable - following Decisions T 208/84 (OJ EPO 1987, 4) and T 22/85 (OJ EPO 1990, 12).
2. A claim which, when taken as a whole, is essentially a business operation, does not have a technical character and is not a claim to a patentable invention within the meaning of Article 52(1) EPC, even though the claimed method includes steps which include a technical component. The true nature of the claimed subject-matter remains the same, even though some technical means are used to perform it.
Relevant legal provisions:
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 52(1)
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 52(2)
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 52(3)
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 56
Keywords: Method of reading and authorising cards using a machine
Method of doing business
Not an invention
Not patentable subject-matter
Also no inventive step
Catchwords:

-

Cited decisions:
-
Citing decisions:
T 1002/92
T 0767/99
T 0619/02

Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t900854ex1.html

Date retrieved: 17 May 2021

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