9.21.4 Reversal of procedural steps

In T 1/81 (OJ 1981, 439) the board held that in the absence of other features that from a technical point of view would contribute to patentability, the sequence in which the socket and pipe connection in the case in hand was made did not suffice to impart inventive step to the method claimed. The mere reversal of procedural steps in the production of component parts could not provide justification for inventive step.