Changes In EPO Guidelines Of Examination

Earlier this year, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced a number of changes to be made to the Guidelines of Examination, with the changes taking effect from 1 November 2019.

IP professionals are accustomed to annual changes being made to the Guidelines by the EPO. This year, a variety of notable changes can be seen. Some of the more important changes are reviewed below.

Selection inventions

Guidelines: G-VI 8

Previously, a sub-range selected from a broader numerical range of the prior art was considered novel if the following three criteria (as set out in T 198/84 and T 279/89) were satisfied:

1. the selected sub-range is narrow compared to the known range; 
2. the selected sub-range is sufficiently far removed from any specific examples disclosed in the prior art and from the end-points of the known range;