[3]The subject-matter in a disclosure can, however, "only be regarded as having been made available to the public, and therefore as comprised in the state of the art (...), if the information given is sufficient to enable the skilled person, at the relevant date (...) and taking into account the common general knowledge in the field at that time, to practise the technical teaching which is the subject of the disclosure (...).
[6] In other words, "documents within the meaning of Article 54(3) EPC are not to be considered in deciding on inventive step".
The first situation is the case of an evident abuse "in relation to the applicant or his legal predecessor",[8] and the second is the disclosure of an invention "at an official, or officially recognised, international exhibition falling within the terms of the Convention on international exhibitions signed at Paris on 22 November 1928 and last revised on 30 November 1972.
[15][16] For instance, the prior disclosure of the subset "vegetables" takes away the novelty of the wider set "fruits and plants".
Besides the general principle that something cannot be patented if it was already known in the state of the art (because not new), there are cases wherein a substance or composition may be notionally considered new (i.e. by virtue of a legal fiction) even when the substance or composition is as such already comprised in the state of the art.
Furthermore, according to the case law of the Boards of Appeal, "the first to show a use of a substance or composition in a medical method should receive broad protection covering any use in a medical method, even if only one specific use is disclosed in the application (see T 128/82, OJ 1984, 164; T 36/83 OJ 1986, 295)".