ARTICLE · 16 OCTOBER 2024

Selection Inventions In Life Sciences At The EPO

Keltie LLP

Explore more from Keltie LLP

The EPO practice on selection inventions has developed considerably over the past decade. Two recent decisions of the Technical Board of Appeal are particularly instructive for applicants in the life sciences field.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Author LinkedIn connections

The EPO practice on selection inventions has developed considerably over the past decade. Two recent decisions of the Technical Board of Appeal are particularly instructive for applicants in the life sciences field.

The Guidelines for Examination in the EPO (EPC Guidelines) define selection inventions as those that "deal with the selection of individual elements, subsets, or sub-ranges from a more generic disclosure in the prior art". The Guidelines address the examination of both novelty and inventive step of selection inventions.

Novelty and inventive step

In terms of novelty, the latest edition of the Guidelines states that a sub-range selected from a broader numerical range is considered novel if two criteria are met:

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Register for freeORLog in

Related Articles

Safeguarding Charity Brands: Trade Mark Ownership And Intra‑group Licensing For Modern Charitable Organisations – The UK Perspective

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Ninth Circuit Finds LLM Coding Agent Outputs Did Not Violate Digital Millenium Copyright Act By Not Including Attribution

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Protecting Digital Designs In The UK

United KingdomIntellectual Property

AI Patents Post-Emotional Perception: Why The UKIPO’s Latest Refusal Comes As No Surprise

United KingdomIntellectual Property

EPO V UPC: How The EPO’s And UPC’s Approaches To Validity Give Us Food For Thought When Drafting And Prosecuting Patent Applications Destined For Europe (Part 2)

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Legal Intelligence Newsletters: sign up for the latest legal and regulatory news on your chosen topics

Read more about

Related Comparative Guides

Comparative Guide

Trademark Disputes

Comparative Guide

Intellectual Property

Comparative Guide

Patent Litigation

Comparative Guide

Franchise & Licensing

See more popular content from

Intellectual Property

EU AI Act Article 50: New AI Transparency Rules

Article 50 of the EU AI Act introduces sweeping transparency obligations for AI providers and deployers, requiring disclosure of AI interactions, marking of AI-generated content, and labeling of deepfakes. These rules carry significant commercial and IP implications for businesses using AI to create marketing materials, synthetic influencers, and other valuable assets.

European UnionIntellectual Property

Potter Clarkson LLP

AI, Deepfakes And Image Rights: Does English Law Protect Your Face, Voice And Likeness?

Generative AI has created a legal vacuum where synthetic images and deepfakes can be created and shared without consent, yet English law offers no standalone "image right" to protect individuals. With celebrities like Lisa Riley and over 80 performers demanding reform, the question is whether the UK's patchwork of intellectual property, data protection, and common law protections can adequately address this rapidly evolving threat to personal autonomy and reputation.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Mills & Reeve LLP

The Sound Of Ownership: Why AI Voice Cloning Is Raising New IP Questions

As AI voice cloning technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and accessible, the Save Our Voices Now campaign calls for statutory rights allowing individuals to own and control their voice as intellectual property. This article examines whether existing UK law sufficiently protects one of our most personal and recognisable attributes, exploring copyright, trade marks, passing off, and the practical steps individuals and businesses can take.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Just A Matter Of Semantics? Patenting AI Inventions After The Emotional Perception Saga

The Emotional Perception saga has become a defining case for patenting AI inventions in the UK. Most significantly, the Supreme Court judgement1 of February 2026 has reformed the examination of mixed-typed inventions in general, i.e. inventions containing a ‘mixture’ of technical and non-technical features.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

High Court Clarifies The Limits Of Copyright Claims Against Online Marketplaces

The UK High Court has delivered a landmark ruling on online marketplace liability, dismissing Shein's copyright infringement claims against Temu and clarifying when platforms can be held responsible for third-party content. The judgment examines the boundaries of copyright ownership in complex supply chains and establishes important precedents for how marketplace operators should respond to infringement allegations.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Guarding Your Brand: Trademark Scams In The UK

Trademark phishing campaigns are rising, with businesses increasingly being targeted by highly sophisticated, AI-driven trademark scams. Alice Wright analyses a prominent registration scam recently circulating in the UK to offer advice on how to identify trademark scams, what immediate steps to take if targeted, and how to proactively protect your business through legitimate channels.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Novagraaf Netherlands BV

Shein v Temu: Testing The Limits Of Marketplace Liability

The ongoing commercial rivalry between fast-fashion giants Shein and Temu has evolved into one of the most significant intellectual property disputes in the e-commerce sector. This landmark case examines critical questions about copyright ownership, platform liability, and the legal responsibilities of online marketplaces in the digital age.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

UPC CoA Confirms Jurisdiction Over Pending European Patent Application

The UPC Court of Appeal has confirmed that the Unified Patent Court can exercise jurisdiction over European patent applications, provided they are granted before the defendant files their statement of defence. This landmark decision means patent holders may now be locked into the UPC system even before their patents are officially granted, fundamentally changing the strategic timing considerations for opting out of UPC jurisdiction.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

The Manchester Creative Industries AI Summit – The Government's Opportunity To Set Out A Policy Direction On Copyright And AI?

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has convened the Creative Industries AI Summit in Manchester to bring together rightsholders, regulators, platforms and AI labs to align on a common approach to copyright-protected works in AI development. The Summit will unveil the 'Manchester Principles', a framework establishing minimum conditions for using human creative work to train generative AI models.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Samsung Ordered To Pay The Swatch Group US$11.6 Million In Damages For Trade Mark Infringement

The High Court has awarded the Swatch Group US$11.6 million in negotiation damages against Samsung for trade mark infringements involving watch face apps on the Galaxy App store. Rejecting both parties' extreme valuations of US$170 million and US$301, the court established important principles for assessing damages when brand owners don't license their marks and no comparable market royalties exist.

United KingdomIntellectual Property

Mishcon de Reya LLP