T 489/14 - Pedestrians simulation claims not inventive after G 1/19 (preliminary opinion)

The technical board in T 489/14 referred questions to the Enlarged Board in  G 1/19. The technical board substantially asked whether a computer-implemented simulation of a technical system (claimed as such) had technical character and whether it could support inventive step under the COMVIK approach. 

Now that the Enlarged Board has handed down its decision in G 1/19, the technical board in T 489/14 has summoned to oral proceedings, and they have given their preliminary opinion on inventive step of the claims underlying the appeal.

Not surprisingly, the technical board concludes that the simulation of pedestrians movement through an "environment" is a non-technical task and it sees no inventive contribution of the claimed simulation steps.

T 1371/17 - First application of G 1/19 in a Technical Board of Appeals case

In a preliminary opinion, the Technical Board of Appeals in T 1371/17 made comments, which may be the first-ever application of the principles of G 1/19 by a Technical Board of Appeals.

By adopting the strict view on the technicality of simulation methods, this first application of G 1/19 could be an indication of how the EPO will examine simulation-based inventions in the future.