T 488/18 - Withdrawn request for Oral Proceedings need not be made by orignal party for reimbursement
Who exactly should ask for the refund?
During this opposition an insolvency was started for the assests of the opponent. A preliminary insolvency administrator was appointed, who then became a party to the proceedings in opposition by way of a statutory change of party and took the place of the former opponent and respondent. An attempt was made to interrupt the proceedings under Rule 142(1)(b) EPC or under Rule 84(2), first sentence, EPC but these were rejected.
When the only request for oral proceedings was withdrawn from the now opponent, the question presented whether this suffices for a 25% reimbursed of the appeal fee under Rule 103(4)(c) EPC. In a another Board decision (T 777/15), this was denied. The board provides a deep analysis for this point, and comes to the different conclusion that a reimbursement is possible. The following head note was provided:
There may also be a possibility of repayment of the appeal fee under Rule 103(4)(c) EPC if a request for oral proceedings has not been withdrawn by the appellant but by another party to the proceedings who has not filed an appeal (see points 8.3 - 8.9 of the grounds for the decision). (English MT translation by Deepl.)
Eine Rückzahlungsmöglichkeit der Beschwerdegebühr gemäß Regel 103 (4) c) EPÜ kann es auch dann geben, wenn ein Antrag auf mündliche Verhandlung nicht vom Beschwerdeführer zurückgenommen wurde, sondern von einem anderen Verfahrensbeteiligten, der keine Beschwerde eingelegt hat (siehe Nrn. 8.3 - 8.9 der Entscheidungsgründe).