3. Clarity of claims

In T 2574/16 claim 1 was directed to a method of accessing electronic information, the last step of which was modifying at least one graphical element on the selected portal document based upon the simulation graphical element that is selected and the operational electronic information to thereby simulate an operation of at least one of the operational elements of the at least one operational system. The examining division had found that this last step was unclear (Art. 84 EPC) and caused the claimed invention to be insufficiently disclosed (Art. 83 EPC). One of its objections was that an example disclosed in the description in combination with two figures made it clear that the invention was not limited to simulating an operation in response to the selection of a single simulation graphical element but encompassed simulating an operation in response to the selection of more than one simulation graphical element. In view of that example, claim 1 could not be interpreted as being restricted to displaying known modifications stored in the operational electronic information. The board noted that the claim did encompass elaborate simulations going beyond any of the examples disclosed in the application as filed. But this in itself was not a problem of lack of clarity or insufficiency of disclosure. In fact, it was normal for a claim to define the scope of protection in terms that positively define the essential features of the invention. Any particular embodiment falling within the scope of the claim could have further characteristics not mentioned in the claim or disclosed in the application (and could even constitute a patentable further development). In the case in hand, any method falling within the scope of claim 1 included a step of modifying at least one graphical element to thereby simulate an operation of at least one operational element. This simulation could be very elaborate but also very simple. The contribution of this step to the claimed invention was essentially that some simulation took place, not that such simulation was made possible for the first time. Given at least one operational element of an operational system, the skilled person would have no difficulty in implementing some simulation in the form of at least one modification to at least one graphical element. The contribution made by the step was therefore sufficiently disclosed.

In T 3003/18 opponents 2 and 3 had submitted in respect of previous requests that the definition of the claimed subject-matter by reference to connectors designated by standards or norms was not clear, among other reasons because the corresponding standards or norms included different versions and changed over time and the structural and functional features of the claimed connectors were not clear (cf. T 1888/12, T 783/05). Against this the patent proprietor argued that references to standards in claims were not generally unclear per se; what should be considered in this case were the features of the standard as they related to the claimed invention (cf. T 2187/09, T 1196/15). According to the board, the clarity of a claim specifying a norm or standard depended on the circumstances of the case, and in particular on the claimed subject-matter. The MTRJ connector specified in claim 1 designated a well-known standardised family of connectors having, on the one hand, specific features that could differ among the connectors of the family and could change over time according to different specific versions of the corresponding standard or norm and, on the other hand, a series of common (or, as noted by the opposition division, generic) features that ensured a predetermined degree of compatibility and interchangeability between the different connectors of the same family. Moreover, these connectors were commonly and generally designated "MTRJ connectors" in textbooks, reference books and the like, without reference to any particular version of the corresponding standard or norm. In addition, in the present case – and contrary to other cases, such as T 1888/12 and T 783/05 (see above) – the features of the MTRJ connector relevant in the technical context of claim 1 were not the specific, but the common features mentioned above, and for this reason the skilled person would understand what was meant in the claimed context by the optic connector being an "MTRJ connector". The same considerations applied to the SC and the LC connectors defined in claim 1.