T 628/14 - Within time limit for making written submissions, but too late
In this opposition appeal, an opponent submitted new documents in response of the invitation to oral proceedings under Rule 116(1) EPC ("When issuing the summons, the European Patent Office shall draw attention to the points which in its opinion need to be discussed for the purposes of the decision to be taken. At the same time a final date for making written submissions in preparation for the oral proceedings shall be fixed. Rule 132 shall not apply. New facts and evidence presented after that date need not be considered, unless admitted on the grounds that the subject of the proceedings has changed."). The documents were not admitted in the proceedings as they were late filed and prima facie not relevant. The Board emphasized that the invitation for written submissions should, according to established case law, not be construed as an invitation to file new evidence or other material departing from the legal and factual framework of issues and grounds pleaded as established with the notice of opposition. The Board also reviewed that it is at the first-instance division's discretion to admit late filed documents or not, and concluded that the first instance division did not exercise its discretion in an unreasonable way as it had assessed the prima facie relevance of both documents.
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