• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]
Contact form
Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei

  • Deutsch

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email
MENUMENU
  • Services
    • Advice On Protective IP Rights
    • Patent Application /TM Registration
    • Enforcement Of IP Rights
    • Defence Against IP Rights Enforcement
    • Costs
  • Company
    • Fields of Law
      • Patent Law
      • Utility Model Law
      • Employees‘ Inventions
      • Trademark Law
      • Design Law
      • Trademark and Product Piracy
      • Expert Opinions
    • Our Law Firm
      • Dr. Karl-Hermann Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Tim Meyer-Dulheuer
      • Dr. Klaus Zimmermann
      • Zhichao Ying
      • Dr. Christoph Hölscher
    • Commitment
  • Contact
    • Where To Find Us
    • Write us!
    • Request call back
  • Blog

Improving the weather forecasting is not technical

7. July 2020

A patent application by Swiss Re to improve weather forecasting was rejected by the EPO: The modelling of weather data is not a patentable invention; improved understanding of weather is rather a scientific theory.

WettervorhersageMost people would like to see an improvement in the reliability and accuracy of weather forecasting, whether for holiday or weekend planning or garden planning. And indeed, the European patent application of Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd. (Swiss Re) should improve weather forecasting by modelling historical weather data and also serve as a prediction of the value of a weather-based structured financial product.

Patentability of calculation models, ML and computer-implemented invention

In principle, modelling and simulation can be protected by patent, but patentability for calculation models and algorithms is not easy, the same applies to machine learning (ML). This is because mathematical methods are in principle excluded from patentability under Article 52 EPC unless they have a technical character and produce a technical effect. However, a general technical purpose such as “controlling a technical system” is not sufficient.

Patentability as a computer-implemented invention is easier to achieve, especially in the case of computer-aided simulation methods. Concrete technical applications of computer-implemented simulation methods are to be regarded as inventions within the meaning of Article 52 EPC even if they comprise mathematical formulae, the EPO’s Board of Appeal already decided in 2006 (T 1227/05).

Improving weather forecasting: technical or not?

But Swiss Re’s patent application for improving weather forecasting was rejected by the European Patent Office (EPO) as non-technical. Swiss Re filed an appeal against it, arguing that a weather forecasting system comprising, for example, sensors for measuring specific weather data is technical in nature and that improving weather data by calculation and further processing is also technical in nature.

Although the EPO Board of Appeal agreed with the applicant Swiss Re that a weather forecasting system could be technical, it did not agree with the applicant’s argument that a weather forecasting system could be technical. Weather data represent measurements about the physical world and can therefore also be of a technical nature, the Board of Appeal explained.

Reference to Decision T 2079/10 

In this context, the Board of Appeal also referred to Decision T 2079/10 (Control of cellular alarm systems) of 2018 (incidentally, with Swiss Re as applicant), in which it was assumed that physical parameters constitute technical data.

In this case of alarm systems, the Board of Appeal had held that a grid-based structure requiring spatial or geographical allocations and considerations between sensors and alarm systems could in no way be regarded as a specification of a purely business process. Since the recording of physical measurements by means of sensors was also claimed, the procedure as a whole had a technical character.

Improved understanding of weather is scientific theory

The key question in the present case, however, is whether improving the accuracy of certain weather forecast data is technical. The Board of Appeal denied this and considered this kind of modelling to be more of a discovery or a scientific theory, which are excluded from patentability under Article 52(2)(a) EPC. This is because “weather” is not a technical system which can be improved or even simulated in order to try to improve it.

The improvement of the data in this case is therefore rather an improvement of a model applying a scientific theory and does not therefore contribute to its technical character, the Board of Appeal decided. The modelling of the weather in the form of historical reference data is intended to improve understanding of the weather and, as a result, to improve weather forecasting.

Objective technical problem – but for business purposes

The objective technical problem is how to implement the non-technical method for predicting the value of weather-based financial products on a computer system, the Board of Appeal summarised. It was also legitimate to include the non-technical aspects and features of the invention in the formulation of the technical problem. However, the technical features of the implementation result directly from the requirement specification for the non-technical concept.

In particular, it does not seek a technical effect or purpose such as an improvement in the measurement technology itself, but rather an improvement in the processing of data for business purposes, namely determining the value of the financial product.

Therefore, the present improvement of weather forecasting is not technical, the Board of Appeal decided.

Mutual technical effect

Swiss Re also argued that the invention automatically links structured financial products with weather-based measurement data, thus creating a mutual technical effect.

The Board of Appeal agreed with this in part. In fact, a technical interaction between the financial products and the “real world” was achieved, the Board of Appeal decided.  Contrary to the opinion of the examining division, the method according to the patent claim included technical steps, for example the generation of a reference value based on the structural parameters of the financial product. Such steps are technical because without a processor-based system a skilled person would not be able to perform them in the defined order.

However, there is no influence of the parameters of the financial product on the quality of the weather or weather-based measurements. By definition, the value of the financial product depends on the weather data, but not vice versa. There is therefore no technical reciprocity effect.

No inventive step under Article 56 EPC

Swiss Re’s appeal was rejected in its entirety (T 1798/13). The invention Improvement of weather forecasting is not patentable because it is not based on an inventive step according to Article 56 EPC.

Any questions on patentability of computer-based inventions, software, AI or industrial robots?

Our attorneys have many years of expertise in patent law and are authorized to represent you before any patent office and court in Germany as well as internationally, also in China.
Please contact us if you are interested.

 

Sources: 

Decision of Board of Appeal,  T 1798/13 (Forecasting the value of a structured financial product/SWISS RE

Image:

slightly_different | pixabay.com | CCO License kombiniert mit Maky_Orel | pixabay.com | CCO License

  • share  41 
  • share 
  • share 
  • tweet 
  • share 

Category iconPatent Law Tag icontechnical problem,  improvement of data processing,  calculation models,  model,  business purpose,  Swiss Re,  for business purposes,  T 2079/10,  Patent Application,  scientific theory,  algorithms,  modelling,  machine learning,  modelling of data,  inventive step,  weather,  mathematical model,  weather forecast,  Article 52 EPC,  improvement of weather forecast,  Article 56 EPC,  mutual technical effect,  improvement of metrology

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More articles about: Patent Law

All articles

Blog Menu

  • Design Law
  • Healthcare & Lifesciences
  • International Intellectual Property
  • Licenses
  • News from our law firm
  • Overall
  • Patent Law
  • Product- and Trademark piracy
  • Trademark Law

Recent Posts

  • BPatG: Patent claim of cancer drug on active substance as salt 7. March 2022
  • Grant for European IP Protection: SME Fund 2022 4. March 2022
  • CODE-X vs. Cody’s: Likelihood of confusion in drinks? 25. February 2022
  • EOS lip balm no 3D trademark – appeal before ECJ not admissible 24. February 2022

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Das könnte Sie auch interessieren:

4. March 2022
Grant for European IP Protection: SME Fund 2022

Grant for European IP Protection: SME Fund 2022

22. February 2022
PAP is in force: UPC possible in 2022

PAP is in force: UPC possible in 2022

8. February 2022
Germany: Value in dispute and costs in proceedings

Germany: Value in dispute and costs in proceedings

3. February 2022
PCT application – does the principle of joint applicants apply?

PCT application – does the principle of joint applicants apply?

1. February 2022
Proof of patent infringement by whistleblower

Proof of patent infringement by whistleblower

19. January 2022
Computer Data identification declared invalid

Computer Data identification declared invalid

Contact us or request a call back

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]
Request a call back

Footer

Contact

Torhaus Westhafen
Speicherstrasse 59
D – 60327 Frankfurt am Main
Deutschland
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 199
[email protected]

Office Hours
Moday – Friday:   08:00-18:00

Fields of Law

  • Patent Law
  • Utility Model Law
  • Employees’ Inventions
  • Trademark Law
  • Design Law
  • Trademark and Product Piracy
  • Expert Opinions
  • Costs

Law Firm

  • Request non-binding call back
  • Company
  • Our Law Firm
  • ISO Certificate
  • Privacy Policy
  • Data handling for clients
  • Imprint

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • xing
  • Email

Newsletter Signup

© Patent- & Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Meyer-Dulheuer MD Legal Patentanwälte PartG mbB

Contact Form

 

Give us a call, send us an email or fill out the contact form.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]

Kontaktformular

 

Rufen Sie uns an, schicken Sie uns eine Mail oder füllen Sie das Kontaktformular aus.

+49 (0) 69 / 606 278 – 0
[email protected]