In a decision delivered on 15 October 2025, the Düsseldorf Local Division addressed two central issues of European patent law — the interpretation of “the same invention” under Art. 87 EPC and the assessment of inventive step in the context of material selection.
The Court held that the concept of “the same invention” under Art. 87 EPC is to be interpreted consistently with the EPO’s disclosure standard for added matter. A claimed invention enjoys valid priority from an earlier application only if the skilled person can derive the claimed subject-matter directly and unambiguously from that earlier application as a whole, using common general knowledge. The Court expressly referred to the reasoning of the Central Division Munich in Sanofi v. Amgen (UPC_CFI_1/2023) and the Court of Appeal’s order in Abbott v. Sibio (UPC_CoA_382/2024).
As to inventive step, the Court reiterated that selecting a suitable material from a limited range of materials known to be appropriate for a particular purpose does not normally involve an inventive step. The skilled person, familiar with materials used in pulp-based moulded packaging, would naturally choose an appropriate fibre composition without exercising inventive skill.
