T 0733/98 (Admissibility of the Appeal/SUMITOMO) vom 14.12.1999

Admissibility (no): statement of the grounds - no reasons
Restitutio - all due care (no)
Main and auxiliary requests in grant procedure

I. If an application is refused under Article 97 and Rule 51(5) EPC, on the grounds that the applicant neither communicated his approval of the text proposed for grant within the period according to Rule 51(4) EPC nor proposed amendments within the meaning of Rule 51(5) EPC within this period, a statement setting out the grounds of appeal which deals only with the issues of admissibility and allowability of new claims filed together with the statement does not meet the requirement of Article 108 EPC, third sentence.
II. The requirement of "all due care required by the circumstances" within the meaning of Article 122(1) EPC is not met if an applicant and his professional representative fail to realize that the procedural way in handling main and auxiliary requests as set out in Legal Advice 15/84, points 2.4 and 2.5, is no longer relevant after the amended Rule 51 EPC had entered into force on 1 September 1987.