Friday, August 18, 2017 T 1921/12 - Who should sign a 'decision'

In this decision the Board of Appeal is annoyed about the fact that a Rule 140 Correction of a decision of the Examining Division (signed by the whole division) and a Rule 139 Correction of an obvious error (signed only by the primary examiner in the opposition period, i.e. after grant; G 1/10 stopping this process was not yet issued) are not in the public part of the file.

The Board sees the R.139 correction as not valid since no formally correct decision is taken; it would require the signature of the whole Examining Division.   

In the decision several aspects of the problem-solution approach are re-discussed. The Board is also not keen on hearing witnesses.