Nokia v. 3D Icons, European Patent Office (EPO Board of Appeal), 24 February 2010

In this case the Board ruled that features providing a displayed icon of a three-dimensional appearance have technical character and thus should be considered when assessing inventive step. According to the Board these features specify how the information is displayed and not what is displayed so that these features do not fall under the category of presentation of information within the meaning of Article 52(2)(d) EPC. This decision is important to inventions to graphical user interfaces as it emphasizes that a special way of presenting information onto a screen has technical character and thus may be patentable.

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.