3.5. Decisions of the administrative departments of the EPO

In T 1448/09 the board held that the appellant was not at fault in failing to address, in its statement of grounds of appeal, a reason which, in the circumstances, could genuinely have been misunderstood. The principle of good faith required adverse decisions not to contain any ambiguity that could affect their comprehensibility.

In T 1482/21 the board noted that any subsequent reopening of a favourable decision of the Receiving Section on re-establishment of rights would be in conflict with the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations. A party whose request for re-establishment was granted in ex parte proceedings had every reason to believe that it could rely on such decision in its subsequent procedural conduct.