EPO审查指南也有对此进行解释,感觉比SIPO的审查指南更清查.
有创造性的组合特征合称 Combination ；没有创造性的组合特征称juxtaposition or aggregation，简单明了。
9.5 Combination vs. juxtaposition or aggregation
The invention claimed must normally be considered as a whole. When a
claim consists of a \"combination of features\", it is not correct to argue
that the separate features of the combination taken by themselves are
known or obvious and that \"therefore\" the whole subject-matter claimed is
obvious. However, where the claim is merely an \"aggregation or
juxtaposition of features\" and not a true combination, it is enough to
show that the individual features are obvious to prove that the aggregation
of features does not involve an inventive step (see IV, 9.8.2, last
paragraph). A set of technical features is regarded as a combination of
features if the functional interaction between the features achieves a
combined technical effect which is different from, e.g. greater than, the
sum of the technical effects of the individual features. In other words, the
interactions of the individual features must produce a synergistic effect. If
no such synergistic effect exists, there is no more than a mere
aggregation of features (see T 389/86, OJ 3/1988, 87).
For example, the technical effect of an individual transistor is essentially
that of an electronic switch. However, transistors interconnected to form a
microprocessor synergically interact to achieve technical effects, such as
data processing, which are over and above the sum of their respective
individual technical effects (see also IV-Annex, 2). |
