T 0738/04 vom 11.12.2008

Prior use (absolute conviction)
Late-filed evidence
Availability to the public (no)
Inventive step (yes)
Sufficiency of disclosure

In a situation in which the elaboration of a norm led to a multiplicity of factual situations possibly each constituting on its own a prior use (various printed versions of the norm, multiplicity of meetings, public enquiry, etc.), the opponent should, from the outset of the opposition proceedings or ensuing appeal proceedings, have identified those situations in respect of which he will be able to produce evidence complete enough to support the desired conclusion.
It would have been unfair to allow the appellant in the course of inter partes proceedings to extend the case originally put forward in relation to one specific situation to other situations, even if these situations arose in the framework of one and the same general elaboration process (cf. Point 3.5 of the decision).