PATENT | UPC Court of Appeal aligns with EPO approach on mixed-type inventions

On 17 April 2026, the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court (the UPC) issued its order in case UPC_CoA_901/2025 (Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. v Sinocare Inc. and A. Menarini Diagnostics S.r.l.), clarifying the role of non-technical features in the assessment of inventive step.

The case concerned whether certain claim features – relating in particular to the visualisation of data and user interaction (e.g. timeline graphs and selectable event icons) in a glucose monitoring device for diabetes management – could be disregarded on the basis that, taken in isolation, they would qualify as non-technical subject-matter under Article 52(2) European Patent Convention (the EPC).

The order clarifies that a claim feature should not be excluded from the inventive step assessment merely because it is non-technical per se. A feature that would qualify as a “non-invention” on its own may still contribute to the technical character of the claimed invention as a whole, where it interacts with the other claim features.

Accordingly, the assessment must consider the interrelationship and combined functioning of all features, rather than evaluating them in isolation. This approach is consistent with the established case law of the European Patent Office, including decision T 641/00 (COMVIK) and opinion G 1/19.

The order confirms that, in mixed-type inventions, the relevant question is whether a feature, in the claimed combination, contributes to a technical solution.

Newsletter n. 118 – May 2026