Glossary
The living world: how to protect plant and animal inventions?

Disclaimer

An amendment to a claim which has the effect of introducing a technical feature into the claim, which normally excludes particular embodiments or fields from a general feature. According to EPO case law, to be acceptable, a disclaimer must have the effect of reducing the subject matter of the protection sought in relation to the original claim.

Biological material

Material containing genetic information which is self-replicating or reproducible in a biological system (Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions, art. 2, July 6, 1998). This definition is transposed into national law under article L. 611-10 4° CPI, and is mirrored in rule 26 (3) of the Implementing Regulations of the EPC 2000.

Therapeutic treatment method

"A set of reasoned, consistent and interconnected steps taken...