EPO, Enlarged Board of Appeal, 15 February 2010, Decision No. G 1/07
The Enlarged Board of Appeal decides on scope of exception to patentability for inventions related to surgery.
Not excluded as surgical treatment are:
Not excluded as surgical treatment are:
- Insignificant physical interventions
- Imaging methods to be used during surgery
- Methods only concerning the internal operation of a device
Read the decision (in English) here.
Read a summary in English (provided by Bardehle Pagenberg) here.
It is important to note that the EBA did not say that all diagnostic imaging methods using contrast agents are not patentable.
The EBA's statement on exclusion from patentability is rather limited, as it only concerns methods encompassing an invasive step representing a substantial physical intervention on the body which requires professional medical expertise to be carried out and which entails a substantial health risk even when carried out with the required professional care and expertise.
Posted by: Leo Steenbeek | 17/02/2010 at 20:58