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T 854/90 - IBM

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Reference numbers
Case number: 
T 854/90
Headword: 
IBM
Application number: 
84114432
Publication number: 
146812
Date of the Decision: 
1992-03-19
Additional Case Information
IPC: 
G07F7/10
Keyword: 
Method of reading and authorising cards using a machine; Method of doing business; Not an invention; Not patentable subject-matter; Inventive step (no)
Applicant: 
IBM
Headnote: 
  1. The proper interpretation of the word “inventions” in Article 52(1) EPC requires a claimed subject-matter or activity to have a technical character and thus in principle to be industrially applicable, if it is to be patentable – following decisions T 208/84 - Computer-related invention/VICOM (OJ EPO 1987, 4) and T 22/85 (OJ EPO 1990, 12).
  2. A claim which, when taken as a whole, is essentially a business operation, does not have a technical character and is not a claim to a patentable invention within the meaning of Article 52(1) EPC, even though the claimed method includes steps which include a technical component. The true nature of the claimed subject-matter remains the same, even though some technical means are used to perform it.