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IV. Proceedings before the departments of first instance
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  4. Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
  5. IV. Proceedings before the departments of first instance
  6. C. Opposition procedure
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C. Opposition procedure

Overview

C. Opposition procedure

1.Legal character of opposition proceedings and applicable principles

2.Filing and admissibility requirements

2.1.Entitlement to file an opposition
2.1.1General principles
2.1.2Examination at any stage in the proceedings of entitlement to oppose
2.1.3Filing of opposition by patent proprietor or inventor
2.1.4Filing of opposition on behalf of a third party – straw man
2.1.5Repeated filing of opposition documents by the same person
2.1.6Filing of multiple oppositions by different persons – single opposition proceedings
2.1.7Filing a joint opposition – multiple opponents
a)Payment of a single opposition fee
b)Representation, legal status and composition of a multiple opponent
2.2.Formal requirements for opposition and filing in due time
2.2.1Introduction
2.2.2Opposition period
a)Period triggered by the publication of the mention of the grant of the patent
b)Observance of the time limit – filing by fax
2.2.3Payment of opposition fee – correction of a payment form
2.2.4Identity of opponent and correction of opponent's name
a)Principles
b)Incorrect designations and abbreviations
c)Evidence of identity
d)Availability of Rule 139 EPC to rectify errors
2.2.5Sufficient identification of the opposed patent
2.2.6Statement of extent of opposition
2.2.7Statement of grounds for opposition
2.2.8Indication of facts, evidence and arguments – substantiation of grounds for opposition
a)No "partial inadmissibility"
b)Relevant date for compliance
c)Full and concise reasoning
d)Substantiation to be distinguished from strength of the opponent's case
e)Indication of evidence
f)No burden of proof with regard to negative facts
g)Examples – sufficient substantiation acknowledged
h)Examples – sufficient substantiation denied
i)Alleged public prior use
j)Non-patent literature and oral disclosures
2.2.9Other requirements for notice of opposition
a)Translation
b)Signature
c)Authorisation
2.3.Procedural aspects of examination of admissibility
2.3.1Formalities officers' powers in opposition proceedings
2.3.2Admissibility of opposition to be checked at every stage
2.3.3Rejection of opposition as inadmissible

3.Substantive examination of opposition

3.1.Introduction
3.2.Extent of opposition
3.3.Scope of examination of grounds for opposition
3.4.Fresh grounds for opposition
3.4.1Fresh grounds examined exceptionally
3.4.2Meaning of "fresh grounds for opposition"
3.4.3Prima facie relevance
3.4.4Objections of lack of novelty and lack of inventive step
3.4.5Examination of fresh facts and evidence related to a fresh ground
3.4.6Opportunity to comment on new grounds for opposition
3.5.Grounds raised against claims amended after grant

4.Late submission of documents, lines of attack and arguments

4.1.Discretionary decision
4.2.Sufficient reasoning
4.3.Concept of "in due time"
4.3.1Duty to facilitate due and swift conduct of proceedings
4.3.2Rule 116(1) EPC – not an invitation to file new submissions
4.3.3Fair response – examples
4.4.Documents cited in the patent specification or search report
4.5.Criteria for exercise of discretion
4.5.1Different approaches
4.5.2Review of discretionary decisions by the boards
4.5.3Prima facie relevance
a)Relationship between prima facie assessment and in-depth assessment
b)Relative or absolute concept of relevance
c)Examples
4.5.4Submission contrary to fair and expedient procedure
4.5.5Abuse of proceedings
4.5.6Legitimate expectation that the document is already in the proceedings
4.6.Late submissions of new arguments
4.6.1New arguments – definition
4.6.2No legal basis for disregarding late-filed arguments in opposition proceedings

5.Amendments to claims, description and drawings in opposition proceedings

5.1.Admissibility of amendments
5.1.1Principles
5.1.2Amendments occasioned by a ground for opposition – Rule 80 EPC
a)General
b)Amendments intended to remedy a lack of clarity
c)Filing of new dependent or independent claims
5.1.3Amendments occasioned by national prior rights
5.1.4Timeframe for filing amendments
a)Discretionary decision to admit or not admit amendments – legal basis
b)Concept of "late-filed" and implications for discretion
c)Review of first-instance discretionary decisions by the boards
d)Principles for exercise of discretion
5.1.5Amending a non-opposed sub-claim
5.1.6Applicability of Rule 43(2) EPC in opposition proceedings
5.1.7Applicability of Rule 137(5) EPC in opposition proceedings
5.1.8Removal of error (in claim) in opposition proceedings – Rule 139 EPC
5.2.Scope of examination of amendments
5.2.1Scope of examination not limited to grounds raised pursuant to R. 76(2)(c) EPC
5.2.2Extent of power to examine amended claims for compliance with Article 84 EPC
5.2.3Additional searches
5.3.Proprietor's approval of amended text of the patent

6.Right to be heard in opposition proceedings

6.1.Principle of equal treatment
6.2.Invitation to file observations under Article 101(1) EPC
6.3.Invitation to file observations under Rule 82(1) EPC
6.4.EPO communication concerning submissions by the other party – adequate opportunity to reply
6.5.Opportunity to present comments
6.6.Change in composition of opposition division during opposition proceedings
7.Acceleration of opposition proceedings in the case of pending infringement proceedings

8.Decisions of opposition division

8.1.Revocation of a European patent for failure to fulfil formal requirements – by way of decision
8.2.Interlocutory decisions
8.2.1General
8.2.2Maintenance of European patent as amended
New decisions
T 809/21

Catchword: 

In a case where the patent is not opposed in its entirety, the opposition being directed at certain claims only, and where the Opposition Division decides that all of the proprietor's requests in relation to the opposed claims must fail, only the unopposed claims, which are not part of any opposition proceedings, are left standing.  Hence, provided the requirements of Rule 82(1) EPC are met (either during oral proceedings or, in a written procedure, by means of a separate communication), the patent may be maintained on the basis of the unopposed claims, irrespective of whether the proprietor has filed an explicit request for this during the proceedings. Such a request would, in fact, be superfluous, since the unopposed claims have been granted and are not the subject of any opposition. The unopposed claims of the granted patent are therefore always available to the proprietor as the minimum basis on which the patent may be maintained (Reasons, point 5.2).

T 1617/20

Catchword:

Prima facie allowability under Article 123(2) EPC of a late filed amended claim request may be a valid criterion to be used by the opposition division when deciding on the admittance of this claim request. However, using this criterion, to object for the first time at oral proceedings to a feature of the late-filed claim request that was already present in higher ranking claim requests and had never been objected to before, not even when deciding on the allowability or admittance of those higher-ranking claim requests, goes against the principles of fairness and good faith (see point 2.6.11 of the reasons).

T 2120/18

Catchword:

1. An opposition division's rejection of a request for extension of the time limit indicated in its communication under Rule 79(1) EPC does not terminate the opposition proceedings. Therefore, a patent proprietor is in a position to respond to the notice of opposition beyond the expired time limit or, at least, request the rejection of the opposition as well as oral proceedings. The patent proprietor must anticipate that an opposition division may issue its decision after expiration of the time limit (see Reasons 4.5, 4.6 and 4.9).

2. There is no legal basis for a duty on the part of the opposition division to notify the patent proprietor in advance of its intention to reach a decision, even if that decision concerns the revocation of the patent (see Reasons 4.8, 4.10 and 4.11).

3. If a patent proprietor chooses not to file any submissions during the opposition proceedings but to present them only with its statement of grounds of appeal, this amounts to bringing an entirely fresh case in appeal proceedings. This is at odds with the primary object of the appeal proceedings to review the decision under appeal in a judicial manner. Consequently, a board has the discretion under Article 12(4) RPBA 2007 not to admit the patent proprietor's defence submissions into the appeal proceedings. This does, however, not necessarily lead to revocation of the patent. The decision under appeal is still to be reviewed by the board, which might overturn the impugned decision, for example if it is not convinced by the reasons given by the opposition division or in the event of a substantial procedural violation (see Reasons 5.5 and 5.6).

T 1776/18

Catchword:

1.) Article 114(2) EPC provides a legal basis for disregarding claim requests which are not submitted in due time (Reasons 4.5.1-4.5.11). 2.) A claim request which is filed in opposition proceedings after the date set under Rule 116(1) EPC is not submitted in due time within the meaning of Article 114(2) EPC (Reasons 4.6.1-4.6.10). 3.) Rule 116(2) EPC does not limit the Opposition Division's discretionary power under Article 114(2) EPC and Rule 116(1) EPC. As a rule, this discretionary power does not depend on the contents of the Opposition Division's communication under Rule 116(1) EPC. However, if the Opposition Division invites the patent proprietor to file an amended claim request to address a specific objection and the patent proprietor complies with this invitation by filing the required amendments by the date set under Rule 116(1) EPC, the Opposition Division's discretion not to admit that claim request may effectively be reduced to zero (Reasons 4.7.1-4.7.8).

T 960/15

Catchword:
The Boards of Appeal may review discretionary decisions. There are, however, limits on the extent of review that reflect the discretion accorded to the deciding body. In the present case, the Opposition Division decided to consider document D8 and the review of this decision is a primary object of the appeal proceedings (Article 12(2) RPBA 2020) - see Reasons 1 - 9.

Case Law Suppl.
Annual report: case law 2022
Summaries of decisions in the language of the proceedings
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