Patent decision

BL number

O/048/03

Concerning rights in

GB9718677.9

Hearing Officer

Mr D J Barford

Decision date

17 February 2003

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Delco Electronics Europe Gmbh

Provisions discussed

Section 76, section 14(5)(c)

Keywords

Added subject matter, Support

Related Decisions

None

Summary

During the course of examination the claims were amended to meet citations which necessitated some amendment of the description. The latter amendment was considered to add matter and result in the claims not being supported by the description. In respect of the added matter objection it was held that application of both the Bonzel test and the EPO 'novelty test' produced the same result, namely that section 76(2) was contravened. In respect of the support objection it was held that, since the description had been amended in such a way that it included an embodiment which did not incorporate a feature now required by claim 1, section 14(5)(c) was contravened. An opportunity to amend was given.

Full decision O/048/03 23Kb