Trilateral Project 24.1-Biotechnology 178

In this case it depends whether (a) the partial polypeptide fragment of the claimed invention constitutes one of several possible polypeptide fragments all having an equal function i.e. use as an epitope, or (b) the partial polypeptide fragment is a specific one containing an epitope having surprising effects. In case (a) an inventive step cannot be recognized, whereas in case (b) the claimed invention would be considered to involve an inventive step, because a selection is only regarded to be inventive if the selection from the known broad class provides a surprising technical property or effect.