Friday, February 12, 2016 R 0018/14 - Different understanding of issue

"The poetry of logic"

In this petition for review, the petitioner argued that its right to be heard has been fundamentally violated in that the debate which took place during oral proceedings lacked essential aspects in respect of novelty of independent claim 1; these only appeared in the reasoning of the written decision and were said to be entirely new for the petitioner.

During oral proceedings before the Enlarged Board, the petitioner explained that when a Board of Appeal intends, as in the present case, to depart from a common logical reasoning, it should inform the parties in advance so that they have an opportunity to react in an appropriate manner.