European Patent Office

T 0595/11 (Underpayment of appeal fee/Lely Enterprises AG) of 27.05.2015

European Case Law Identifier
ECLI:EP:BA:2015:T059511.20150527
Date of decision
27 May 2015
Case number
T 0595/11
Petition for review of
-
Application number
05075618.8
Language of proceedings
English
Distribution
Distributed to board chairmen (C)
OJ versions
No OJ links found
Other decisions for this case
-
Abstracts for this decision
-
Application title
A method of milking a dairy animal
Applicant name
Lely Enterprises AG
Opponent name
DeLaval International AB
Board
3.2.04
Headnote
-
Keywords
Recognition of legitimate expectations (yes)
Appeal deemed to have been filed and admissible (yes)
Sufficiency of disclosure - claim 1 of the main request (yes)
Novelty - claim 1 of the main request (yes)
Remittal to the first instance for further prosecution
Catchword
1. When deciding on the possible consequences of the Office's failure to meet its obligation to check a fee payment, the merely conjectural possibility of a real, but otherwise in itself not necessarily decisive setback (here the non-occurrence of an immediate success) for a party is more preferable than a certain decisive loss of all rights for another party, in particular when for a long time none of the parties expected the latter, see Reasons 1.13
2. Fee payment is not an issue of admissibility of the appeal, but rather a precondition for the very existence of the appeal, i.e. its deemed filing, see Reasons 1.15

Order

For these reasons it is decided that:

1. The decision under appeal is set aside.

2. The case is remitted to the department of the first instance for further prosecution.