T 0414/17 - Public prior use need not be substantiated up to the hilt for admissibility
In this opposition appeal case, the opposition was rejected as being inadmissible for lack of substantiation. After withdrawal of the ground of Art. 100(b), the only remaining ground of opposition was lack of novelty (Art. 110(a)) based on public prior use, whereby the opponent submitted a product catalogue, bill of materials, drawings and also offered a witness. The patent proprietor had contested that the opposition was inadmissible because it failed to indicate the facts and evidence of the public prior use, particularly with regard to "where", "when", "how" ("under which circumstances") or by "whom" the use took place. The Opposition Division agreed on the basis that the submitted catalogue provided no evidence of to whom and when a sale occurred.
The opponent argued that the Opposition Division had apparently confused the issues of (formal) admissibility and (substantive) allowability, and had committed a procedural violation for not raising the issue of admissibility in the summons to oral proceedings. The Board concluded that because the proprietor had raised the issue of admissibility, the opponent could have expected it to be the first topic of discussion at oral proceedings, since admissibility is a prerequisite for any subsequent substantive discussion. The Board therefore held that no procedural violation had occurred, but did find that the Opposition Division has reached erroneous conclusions.
Specifically, the Board found that for the purposes of admissibility, an alleged prior use needs to be substantiated only to the extent sufficient for the Opposition Division and the proprietor to understand the case. Communications from the Division and the proprietor, prior to the oral hearing, demonstrated that both the Division and the proprietor understood the case, which by itself is sufficient to establish admissibility. The Board further noted that the offering of a witness is a further admissible means of evidence, the probative value of which cannot be ascertained before it has been presented.
The Board therefore set aside the decision and remitted the case to the Opposition Division for further prosecution.