Foreword to the eleventh edition

The first edition of the “Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO” (CLB) publication was printed in 1993, compiling six special editions of the Official Journal on important decisions of the Boards of Appeal up to that time. By then, the Boards of Appeal had decided on some 5 000 cases. More than three decades after the first edition of the CLB and almost 50 years since the first decision of the Boards of Appeal was issued, the Boards of Appeal have dealt with over 67 000 cases and issued over 45 000 decisions. The present new edition reflects almost 9000 important decisions from the Boards of Appeal and provides updates on the evolution of the case law through to the end of 2024.

The CLB has since become an integral and highly valued resource for the work of patent attorneys in particular, the judiciary in the EPC contracting states and beyond, as well as in-house and outside counsel. This was confirmed by the results of a survey conducted by the Boards of Appeal in 2024, in which 85% of patent attorneys replying to the survey stated the main reason for using the CLB was for the preparation of cases and/or applications.

Since the 10th edition in 2022, which was the first digital-only edition of the CLB, there have been many changes. Interim revisions of selected chapters were introduced for the first time in 2024, keeping users updated on the most recent and important changes between triennial editions. These included in particular the case law and approaches following Enlarged Board decisions as well as the developing jurisprudence on the application of the revised Rules of Procedure, which came into force in 2020. These interim revisions will continue on an annual basis and will be available in the HTML version of the publication, allowing for a more dynamic and up-to-date insight into the development of our jurisprudence.

Furthermore, our regularly published abstracts of decisions, which summarise key aspects of selected BoA decisions as they are published, are available every month on a dedicated webpage. On a quarterly basis, the abstracts are updated on the “New Decisions” sidebar in the relevant section of the HTML version. This enables users to read the abstracts in the context of the relevant chapter more regularly and stay updated on recent case law on a certain topic.

I wish to sincerely thank the Legal Research Service of the Boards of Appeal for their dedication and commitment to provide this important trilingual resource, not only every three years but to ensure more frequent updates for the user community and our key stakeholders. My thanks also go to the EPO’s Language Service for the translation of the text spanning over 2 000 pages, as well as the Publications and IT teams for their co-ordination and support to publish the 11^th edition.

I hope you find it useful.

Carl Josefsson

President of the Boards of Appeal