Source: http://kluwerpatentblog.com/2016/05/16/alles-klar-in-germany-some-musings-about-whether-there-is-a-clarity-requirement-in-the-german-patent-act/
Timestamp: 2017-06-25 15:30:38
Document Index: 90795724

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 78', 'Art. 84', 'Art. 84', 'Art. 84', 'Art. 100', 'Art. 138']

and satisfy the requirements laid down in the Implementing Regulations. Art. 78 EPC does not further specify any substantive requirements with regard to claims. They are, however, included in Art. 84 EPC:
Conversely, if a patentee defends a European patent in a limited form, German courts must directly apply, and do directly apply, Art. 84 EPC. In its “Proxyserversystem” decision, Xa ZR 54/06, the FCJ held in the keynote that a European patent cannot be maintained on the basis of claims that do not meet the requirements of clarity and conciseness of Art. 84 EPC. A further FCJ decision from 2012, “Elektronenstrahlsystem”, X ZR 88/09, confirmed what was set down in the “Proxyserversystem” decision and also evaluated the clarity of a claim from a European patent that was defended in a limited form in nullity proceedings. In its latest decision on clarity, i.e. “Fugenband”, X ZR 11/13, dated 27 October 2015, which was discussed on this blog, albeit for a different reason, the FCJ further added that the requirement of clarity follows, for national law, from Sec. 34(3), no. 3, GPA in conjunction with Sec. 9 Regulation on Patent Applications (Patentverordnung). However, the FCJ added that the examination of granted claims is not stipulated either in the EPC or in the German Patent Act. With a decision on grant, the Court argued, the patentee obtains a legal position of which he can only be deprived should one of the stipulations provided in the law apply, i.e. if there is a ground for opposition or revocation. However, the numerus clausus of opposition and revocation grounds according to Art. 100 and Art. 138 EPC and Sec. 21, 22 GPA excludes clarity. Therefore, and in line with G 3/14, an examination with respect to clarity is not allowable if the alleged lack of clarity already existed in the granted claims.
In summary, the 15th Board held that (a) a lack of clarity is no ground to reject a German patent application and, in any case, (b) the claim did not lack clarity. It therefore reversed the GPTO’s decision to refuse the application and remanded the case for evaluation of patentability. Leave for appeal on a point of law was granted to the President of the GPTO, who took the position that lack of clarity should be a ground of revocation under Sec. 34(3) GPA). However and perhaps unfortunately, the President did not avail herself of this opportunity to achieve a final clarification of this question by a decision of the Federal Court of Justice. It therefore remains a matter of speculation how the FCJ would have decided this case. An educated guess at least can be taken from a footnote to an article by Presiding Judge Prof. Dr. Meier-Beck in GRUR 2014, 1033-1040. The footnote related to the FCJ decision Dipeptidyl-Peptidase-Inhibitors discussed on this blog here. In this decision, the FCJ decided, inter alia, that “avoidable unclarities” have to be removed during the examination proceedings. Apart from that, the fact that a multitude of substances is comprised by the term dipeptidyl peptidase inhibitors is no bar to clarity of the claim. Meier-Beck remarked:
In this blogger’s opinion, neither Sec. 34(3) GPA nor Sec. 9 Regulation on Patent Applications (Patentverordnung) refer to either clarity or a lack thereof, let alone an “avoidable lack of clarity”. Perhaps we would be on safer ground if we were to argue that a claim must only be clear enough to perform the function provided in Sec. 34(3) GPA, i.e. to define the subject-matter for which protection is sought. If a claim defines subject-matter very broadly, this is no clarity problem. If a claim uses (arguably) vague terms but these terms can be reasonably clearly construed/interpreted by a skilled person on the basis of the description, using his/her common general knowledge, there is no clarity problem either. If a claim does not contain an important reference point (e.g. if the claim only mentions %, not wt.-% or mole-%), but if its subject-matter is patentable irrespective of which reference point is taken, it should be given the broadest possible interpretation for all purposes. Only if a claim is hopelessly contradictory or incomprehensible in itself and the description does not allow the skilled person to come to an unambiguous and consistent interpretation, then it might be arguable that such a claim cannot serve its function to “define” the subject-matter to be protected and should then be rejected, if there is no way to resolve the ambiguity or lack of comprehensibility by amendment. For the time being, however, the short answer to the question asked in the headline is: “Nein, noch nicht alles klar in Deutschland” or in other words: No, all is not yet clear in Germany.
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