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Date of decision
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25 November 98
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Case number
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T 0284/94
- 3.4.1
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Application number
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85110444.8
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Title of the application
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Thermal mechanism for printing fixed and variable information
and postage meter having such a mechanism
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Applicant name
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Pitney Bowes Inc.
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Opponent name
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Neopost Ltd.
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Headnote
I. An amendment of a claim by the introduction of a technical
feature taken in isolation from the description of a specific
embodiment is not allowable under Article 123(2) EPC if it is
not clear beyond any doubt for a skilled reader from the
application documents as filed that the subject-matter of the
claim thus amended provides a complete solution to a technical
problem unambiguously recognizable from the application.
II. Nor is an amendment allowable under Article 123(2) EPC which
replaces a disclosed specific feature either by its function or
by a more general term and thus incorporates undisclosed
equivalents into the content of the application as filed.
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Keywords
Amendment (not allowable) of European patent application:
limitation of claims by introduction of technical features
selected from the description of an embodiment
Inadmissible generalizations (main first auxiliary and second
auxiliary requests)
Inventive step (yes) (third auxiliary request)
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