European Patent Office

G 0001/89 (Polysuccinate esters) vom 02.05.1990

Europäischer Rechtsprechungsidentifikator
ECLI:EP:BA:1990:G000189.19900502
Datum der Entscheidung
2. Mai 1990
Aktenzeichen
G 0001/89
Antrag auf Überprüfung von
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Anmeldenummer
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IPC-Klasse
C10M 145/22
Verfahrenssprache
Englisch
Verteilung
Im Amtsblatt des EPA veröffentlicht (A)
Amtsblattfassungen
Weitere Entscheidungen für diese Akte
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Zusammenfassungen für diese Entscheidung
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Bezeichnung der Anmeldung
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Name des Antragstellers
non publié
Name des Einsprechenden
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Kammer
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Leitsatz

The agreement between the European Patent Organisation and WIPO dated 7 October 1987, including the obligation under its Article 2 for the EPO to be guided by the PCT guidelines for international search, is binding upon the EPO when acting as an ISA and upon the Boards of Appeal of the EPO when deciding on protests against the charging of additional search fees under the provisions of Article 17(3)(a) PCT. Consequently, as foreseen in these guidelines, an international application may, under Article 17(3)(a) PCT, be considered not to comply with the requirement of unity of invention, not only "a priori" but also "a posteriori", i.e. after taking prior art into consideration. However, such consideration has only the procedural effect of initiating the special procedure laid down in Article 17 and Rule 40 PCT and is, therefore, not a "substantive examination" in the normal sense of that term.

Schlagwörter
Competence of the Enlarged Board of Appeal in protest cases under PCT
Non-unity a posteriori
Orientierungssatz
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Zitierte Akten
W 0003/88W 0044/88

ORDER

For these reasons, it is decided that:

The questions of law referred to the Enlarged Board of Appeal by Technical Board of Appeal 3.3.1 in its decision W 12/89 are answered as follows:

The agreement between the European Patent Organisation and WIPO dated 7 October 1987, including the obligation under its Article 2 for the EPO to be guided by the PCT guidelines for international search, is binding upon the EPO when acting as an ISA and upon the Boards of Appeal of the EPO when deciding on protests against the charging of additional fees under the provisions of Article 17(3)(a) PCT. Consequently, as foreseen in these guidelines, an international application may, under Article 17(3)(a) PCT, be considered not to comply with the requirement of unity of invention, not only "a priori" but also "a posteriori", i.e. after taking prior art into consideration. However, such consideration has only the procedural effect of initiating the special procedure laid down in Article 17 and Rule 40 PCT and is, therefore, not a "substantive examination" in the normal sense of that term.