3.1 Categories 

The EPC refers to different "categories" of claim ("products, process, apparatus or use"). For many inventions, claims in more than one category are needed for full protection. In fact, there are only two basic kinds of claim, viz. claims to a physical entity (product, apparatus) and claims to an activity (process, use). The first basic kind of claim ("product claim") includes a substance or compositions (e.g. chemical compound or a mixture of compounds) as well as any physical entity (e.g. object, article, apparatus, machine, or system of co-operating apparatus) which is produced by a person's technical skill. Examples are: "a steering mechanism incorporating an automatic feed-back circuit ..."; "a woven garment comprising ..."; "an insecticide consisting of X, Y, Z"; or "a communication system comprising a plurality of transmitting and receiving stations". The second basic kind of claim ("process claim") is applicable to all kinds of activities in which the use of some material product for effecting the process is implied; the activity may be exercised upon material products, upon energy, upon other processes (as in control processes) or upon living things (see, however, G‑II, 4.2 and G‑II, 5.4).

Rule 43(2) in combination with Rule 44(1) should be construed as permitting the inclusion of any one of the following combinations of claims of different categories in the same application:

(i)in addition to an independent claim for a given product, an independent claim for a process specially adapted for the manufacture of said product and an independent claim for a use of said product; or 

(ii)in addition to an independent claim for a given process, an independent claim for an apparatus or means specifically designed for carrying out said process; or 

(iii)in addition to an independent claim for a given product, an independent claim for a process specially adapted for the manufacture of said product and an independent claim for an apparatus or means specifically designed for carrying out said process. 

However, while a single set of independent claims according to any one of the combinations (i), (ii) or (iii) above is always permissible, a plurality of such sets of independent claims in one European patent application can only be allowed if the specific circumstances defined in Rule 43(2)(a) to Rule 43(2)(c) apply and the requirements of Art. 82 and Art. 84 are met. The proliferation of independent claims arising out of a combined effect of this kind may therefore be allowed only by way of an exception.

If the subject-matter of a European patent is a process, the protection conferred by the patent extends to the products directly obtained by such a process.