1.5. Ranges of parameters – setting upper and lower limits

In T 113/19 the board explained that, although the sole example was not covered by the newly claimed range, this did not mean that range could not be directly and unambiguously derived from the application as filed. In its view, a person skilled in the art reading the application as filed in the case in hand would regard a composition as having the required property if it had (for the feature in question) a value that was at least equal to the lower threshold of the general range, but would deem those compositions with values above the upper threshold to be even better. The board concluded that the range as claimed – which was limited to what could be deemed satisfactory and excluded anything considered even better – was directly and unambiguously inferable from the teaching of the application as filed.