Wednesday, July 11, 2018 R 0003/17 - Another unsuccessful petition

This petition for review was filed against a decision of the BoA based on two main objections of the petitioner/patent proprietor:

(a) the Opposition Division did not allow for a fair debate during opposition proceedings, and did not give reasons in its decision of revoking the patent, on the admissibility of a disclaimer in claim 1, thus depriving the applicant/patent proprietor of the possibility of having this point re-examined in second instance proceedings. The BoA  further violated Rule 104(b), EPC  because it failed, upon request of rectification of the petitioner, to report such objection in the minutes of the oral appeal proceedings.

(b)   the BoA violated Art. 20(1) and Art. 21, RPBA and consequently Art. 113(1), EPC because the BoA appeared to deviate from the interpretation of Art. 123(2), EPC given by the Enlarged Board in G2/10.

The petition is rejected as clearly not well founded. 

Regarding (a): the patent proprietor had requested together with rectification of the minutes,  reimbursement of the appeal fee for the reasons given in (a) contested to the Opposition Division (see also point 2.1 of the present decision). However, the Enlarged Board is of the opinion that these requests were clearly abandoned by the respondent and thus there could not be any breach of Rule 104(b), EPC.

Regarding (b): the Enlarged Board simply states that an erroneous application of a rule of the RPBA is not per se ground for petition of review unless this brings to a substantial procedural defect under Art. 112a, EPC which appears not to be the case here.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016 T 1824/15 - Delayed

The appellant has argued that two different delays in the first instance proceedings each amounted to a substantial procedural violation, Rule 103(1)(a) EPC, namely the delay of over eleven years in raising an inventive step objection based on D3 and the delay of seven months in issuing the written decision and minutes after the oral proceedings. In view of these issues, the board took this case considerably out of turn, well before it would otherwise have been started. As set out below, the board finds that, in particular because neither delay was contrary to a provision of the EPC, no fundamental deficiency, Article 11 RPBA, or procedural violation, let alone a substantial procedural violation, Rule 103(1) EPC, occurred. This does not however mean that the board is indifferent to the consequences of unjustified procedural delays. (r.2.1). 
The board deviates from T 823/11, where the Board concluded "that the duration of the first-instance proceedings was excessive, the written reasoning given in the communications was inadequate, and the contested decision is insufficiently reasoned within the meaning of Rule 111(2) EPC. These deficiencies amount to substantial procedural violations."