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Case law

Referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal regarding the applicability of G 1/24 claim interpretation to added-matter analysis (T 873/24)

In T 873/24 (Board of Appeal 3.3.05, oral proceedings 3 February 2026), the Board announced that it will refer questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) on whether (and how) the Enlarged Board’s claim-interpretation guidance in G 1/24 extends to the assessment of added subject-matter under Article 123(2) EPC and Article 76(1) EPC.

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Interpreting claim terms “holistically” after G 1/24: description-based definition applied in T 0439/22 (Board 3.2.01)

In T 0439/22 (Technical Board of Appeal 3.2.01, 11 December 2025) the Board applied the Enlarged Board’s guidance in G 1/24 on claim interpretation. The decision is a practical illustration of how an explicit definition in the description can determine the meaning of a seemingly straightforward term used in the claims. As this case shows, this can have decisive consequences for novelty and for late attempts to “repair” the description on appeal.

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