It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that registered trade marks are acknowledged as such in the description. For the assessment of the clarity of claims referring to a trade mark (Art. 84), see F‑IV, 4.8. With regard to the effect of references to trade marks on sufficiency of disclosure (Art. 83), see F‑III, 7.

GL F II 4.13 Physical values, units

When the properties of a material are referred to, the relevant units need to be specified if quantitative considerations are involved.

GL F II 4.12 Computer programs

In the particular case of inventions in the computer field, program listings in programming languages cannot be relied on as the sole disclosure of the invention. The description, as in other technical fields, should be written substantially in normal language, possibly accompanied by flow diagrams or other aids to understanding, so that the invention may be understood by a person skilled in the art who is deemed not to be a specialist in any specific programming language, but does have general programming skills.

GL F II 4.11 Terminology

Although the description needs to be clear and straightforward with avoidance of unnecessary technical jargon, the use of recognised terms of art is acceptable, and will often be desirable. Little-known or specially-formulated technical terms may be allowed provided that they are adequately defined and that there is no generally recognised equivalent. This discretion may be extended to foreign terms when there is no equivalent in the language of the proceedings.

GL F II 4.10 Manner and order of presentation

The manner and order of presentation of the description should be that specified in Rule 42(1), i.e. as set out above, unless, because of the nature of the invention, a different manner or a different order would afford a better understanding.

GL F II 4.9 Industrial application

The description should indicate explicitly the way in which the invention is capable of exploitation in industry, if this is not obvious from the description or from the nature of the invention. The expression "capable of exploitation in industry" means the same as "susceptible of industrial application", and indeed identical expressions are used in the French and German texts of the EPC.

GL F II 4.8 Reference signs

The description and drawings need to be consistent with one another, especially in the matter of reference numbers and other signs, and each number or sign must be explained. However, where as a result of amendments to the description whole passages are deleted, it may be tedious to delete all superfluous references from the drawings and in such a case the examining division does not pursue an objection under Rule 46(2)(i), as to consistency, too rigorously.

GL F II 4.7 Reference in the description to drawings

If drawings are included they should first be briefly described, in a manner such as: "Figure 1 is a plan view of the transformer housing; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the housing; Figure 3 is an end elevation looking in the direction of the arrow X of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a cross-section taken through AA of Figure 1." When it is necessary to refer in the description to elements of the drawings, the name of the element should be referred to as well as its number, i.e. the reference should not be in the form: "3 is connected to 5 via 4" but, "resistor 3 is connected to c

GL F II 4.6 Rule 42(1)(c) vs. Art. 52(1)

If it is decided that an independent claim defines a patentable invention within the meaning of Art. 52(1), it must be possible to derive a technical problem from the application. In this case the requirement of Rule 42(1)(c) is fulfilled (see T 26/81).[Rule 42(1)(c); ]

GL F II 5 Drawings

GL F II 4.14 Registered trade marks