HGF Limited\u2019s articles from HGF Ltd are most popular:<\/p>\n
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\n with readers working within the Retail & Leisure industries
<\/p>\n
The Boards of Appeal of the EPO (BoA) are the
\nappeal body that reviews EPO decisions; in this case, they ruled on
\nan opposition appeal relating to a clinical nutrition invention for
\nseptic patients.<\/p>\n
The real-life case: You are developing a lipid
\ncomposition for enteral nutrition for patients at risk of sepsis.
\nWhen filing your application, you draft a broad claim 1, with
\nseveral technical parameters and wide ranges. You also add several
\napplication frameworks in a single claim (medicine, functional
\nfood, nutritional product). Your argument for inventive step is
\nbased on an improvement over the closest prior art.<\/p>\n
Claim 1:
\n“1. Use of a composition comprising at least one lipid which
\nprovides between 35% and 75% of the total energy of the
\ncomposition, the lipid comprising 25% to 70% by weight of total
\nlipid of MCT (medium chain triglycerides), n-6 and n-3 fatty acids
\nin a ratio n-6\/n-3 between 2\/1 and 7\/1, for the manufacture of a
\nmedicament, a functional food or a nutritive product for the
\ntreatment or prevention of sepsis or inflammatory shock.”<\/p>\n
The beginning of the story: The key technical
\ndifference compared to the closest prior art was mainly a higher
\nlipid energy fraction. The patent attempted to substantiate a
\nbeneficial effect by means of examples, but these examples did not
\ncorrespond in practice to the parameters of claim 1.<\/p>\n
The BoA’s teaching: The Chamber applies a
\nsimple test. If you rely on tests to demonstrate a beneficial
\neffect linked to the distinctive feature, the compositions
\ntested must correspond to what is claimed. Here, this was
\nnot the case.
\nExample 1 had an n-6\/n-3 ratio of 11.25 and did not contain MCTs.
\nExample 2 had a lipid content of 15% of total energy. Example 3
\ncorresponded to claim 1, but had not been tested.
\nIn conclusion, no example demonstrated an improvement over the
\nclosest prior art. The alleged improvement is therefore not
\naccepted, the technical problem is reformulated as
\nsimply providing another “medicament, functional food or
\nnutritive product,” and the evidence becomes easier to
\ndemonstrate, since adjusting the energy content of a nutritional
\ncomposition by increasing lipids is a routine practice.<\/p>\n
Practical drafting tip: The broader claim 1 is
\nat the time of filing, the greater the risk of forced limitation
\nduring the procedure and the greater the risk that a key parameter
\nof your best example will be excluded from the claim after
\nlimitation during the procedure. Before filing, carefully
\ncheck your key examples, parameter by parameter, against
\nall the characteristics of claim 1. Then do the same check on your
\npreferred fallback positions. This will prevent
\nyou from unintentionally excluding the only tested embodiments that
\nsupported the improvement if you later have to limit claim 1 to
\nexclude a prior art document.<\/p>\n
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice; it is
\nmerely practical guidance to be incorporated early on in the filing
\nstrategy.<\/p>\n
Source: ECLI:EP:BA:2010:T025407.20101129<\/p>\n
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
\nguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
\nabout your specific circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HGF Limited\u2019s articles from HGF Ltd are most popular: HGF Ltd are most popular:
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