T 2194/22 vom 19.12.2024

Inventive step - ex post facto analysis
Inventive step - non-obvious combination of known features
Inventive step - main request (yes)
Appeal decision - binding effect of appeal decision
Amendment to case - objection
Amendment to case - suitability of amendment to address issues (no)
Late-filed objection - admitted (no)

1. The admittance of a substantively identical request in post-remittal proceedings is not excluded pursuant to Article 111(2) EPC if the facts underlying the Board's earlier decision for not admitting that request are not the same because a new objection was introduced in post-remittal proceedings (see 2.4).
2. When exercising the discretion to admit a party's request in post-remittal proceedings, the opposition division must take into account the framework defined in the appeal proceedings (see 2.5.1), as the prosecution of a case after remittal should in principle build upon the situation that existed at the end of the appeal proceedings that led to the remittal (see 2.5.2).