LD Duesseldorf, October 31, 2024, Decision, UPC_CFI_373/2023

1. Key takeaways

Preferred Embodiments Not Limiting for Claims

The claim must not be limited to the scope of preferred embodiments. The scope of a claim extends to subject-matter that the skilled person understands as the patentee's claim after interpretation using the description and drawings. A claim interpretation which is supported by the description and drawings as a whole is generally not limited by a drawing showing only a specific shape of a component.

Relevance of Prior Art for Claim Construction

Pursuant to Art. 69(1) S. 1 EPC, the extent of the protection conferred by a European Patent shall be determined by the claims. It is therefore the claim that defines the outer limit of the scope of protection. Nevertheless, the description and the drawings shall be used to interpret the claims. Prior art is not mentioned there. The limitation to the description and the drawings as interpretation material serves the purpose of legal certainty, since the