| European Case Law Identifier: | ECLI:EP:BA:1998:T045896.19981007 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of decision: | 07 October 1998 | ||||||||
| Case number: | T 0458/96 | ||||||||
| Application number: | 87301851.9 | ||||||||
| IPC class: | H05K 3/34 H01R 9/00 |
||||||||
| Language of proceedings: | EN | ||||||||
| Distribution: | B | ||||||||
| Download and more information: |
|
||||||||
| Title of application: | Electrical connector with pin retention feature | ||||||||
| Applicant name: | E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company | ||||||||
| Opponent name: | 01: The Whitaker Corporation 02: Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company of 3M Centre 03: Siemens AG 04: Stocko Metallwarenfabriken Henkels und Sohn GmbH & Co. |
||||||||
| Board: | 3.4.02 | ||||||||
| Headnote: | - | ||||||||
| Relevant legal provisions: |
|
||||||||
| Keywords: | Inventive step - (yes) after amendment | ||||||||
| Catchwords: |
When both the technical content of a claim and the whole description of the patent clearly establish that the specific manner in which terminal pins of an electrical connector cooperate with respective holes in a printed circuit board constitutes an essential feature of the invention for which protection is sought, a claim directed to an electrical connector which is defined inter alia by way of features reciting such specific cooperation cannot be construed as if these features merely defined an intended use of the connector, which should be disregarded for the purpose of assessing patentability of the claimed subject-matter (see point 3 of the Reasons). |
||||||||
| Cited decisions: |
|
||||||||
| Citing decisions: |
|
||||||||
Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t960458eu1.html
Date retrieved: 17 May 2021