German Federal Supreme Court decides about inventiveness requirement

In a decision of May 15, 2012, the German Federal Supreme Court adopted a rather high standard for inventiveness and came to another conclusion than a Dutch court. The German Federal Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the German Federal Patent Court revoking a patent for lack of inventiveness. According to the German Federal Supreme Court it is sufficient to deny inventiveness if the skilled person has, on the basis of the state of the art, an incentive to try certain measures which lead to the invention even if the result was not predictable. The predictability is not decisive. Rather, it is sufficient if there is a reasonable expectation of success associated with the tried measures.