Michael Ford, on Behalf of Dive In.
The European Patent Office (EPO) makes regular updates to its
Guidelines for Examination to account for recent developments in
case law and where the EPO considers further clarification is
needed. The most recent revision of the English-language Guidelines
(which came into force on 1 March 2021) also introduced
gender-neutral language.
Gender-neutral language avoids words which suggest a bias
towards a particular gender, such as gender-specific job titles
(neutral chair or chairperson instead
of
gendered chairman or chairwoman)
or gendered pronouns (neutral they instead of
gendered he or she). The goal of
gender-neutral language is to avoid making assumptions, or creating
assumptions in the minds of readers, about any person's
gender. Gendered language, in contrast, can reinforce societal
gender stereotypes and disregards those identifying as
non-binary.
