T1075/06 blood processing, European Patent Office (EPO Board of Appeal), 17 May 2011

A method claim comprising a step of "providing a donor flow channel for conveying fluid to and from a donor" was found to be excluded from patentability as treatment by surgery and therapy. The Board derived from the description that this step required performing venipuncture and found that venipuncture required professional medical expertise to be carried out. Furthermore, the claim was not allowable as a method which was only concerned with the operation of a device, because it had a step that provided a functional link between the claimed method and the effects produced by the device on the body.

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