9.2.12 Discoveries

In T 1538/05 the applicant claimed to have discovered a magnetic force that was hitherto unknown, and as a consequence thereof, established a number of theories. The board held that the discovery of a new magnetic force was not patentable.

In T 2677/16 the board held that identifying a drug discovery target was not technical. It held that a drug target was not a therapy, but merely a promising direction for future research. The discovery of a drug target may well turn out to be a valuable scientific discovery, but neither discoveries nor science have technical character as such, as is explicitly enshrined in Art. 52(2)(a) EPC. This should not be confused with the invention of a drug, which would represent a technical purpose.

In T 1789/13 the board held that the "weather" was not a technical system that the skilled person could improve, or even simulate with the purpose of trying to improve it. It was a physical system that could be modelled in the sense of showing how it worked. This kind of modelling was held to be rather a discovery or a scientific theory, which are excluded under Art. 52(2)(a) EPC and thus do not contribute to the technical character of the invention.