T 2429/17 - Cogent reasons for amendment after summons
Lacking clarity
Art. 13(2) of the Rules of procedure of the Boards of Appeal states that
Any amendment to a party's appeal case made (...) after notification of a summons to oral proceedings shall, in principle, not be taken into account unless there are exceptional circumstances, which have been justified with cogent reasons by the party concerned.
The question then is, what could be a cogent reason? In this case, the Board raised objections under Articles 84 and 123(2) EPC for the first time in its summons. As the new request responded to these objections, they cleared this hurdle. Unfortunately, the new request was also considered to introduce new clarity issues, so in the end the request was not admitted after all.
SHARE:
