BOARDS OF APPEAL
Information from the Enlarged Board of Appeal
Referrals by the President of the European Patent Office
I. On 30 December 1991, in accordance with Article 112(1)(b) EPC, the President of the European Patent Office referred the following point of law to the Enlarged Board of Appeal in order to ensure uniform application of the law:
1. Is the chemical composition of a product made available to the public by virtue of the availability to the public of that product, irrespective of whether particular reasons can be identified to cause the skilled person to analyse the composition?
and, if the answer to this first question is positive,
2. Does the principle extend to the more general case whereby all information which can be obtained from a product is made available to the public by virtue of the availability to the public of that product, irrespective of whether particular reasons exist to cause the skilled person to search for that information?
The case is pending under Ref. No. G 1/92.
II. On 5 March 1992, in accordance with Article 112(1)(b) EPC, the President of the European Patent Office referred the following point of law to the Enlarged Board of Appeal in order to ensure uniform application of the law:
Can an applicant who fails to pay further search fees for a non-unitary application when requested to do so by the Search Division under Rule 46(1) EPC pursue that application for the subject-matter in respect of which no search fees have been paid or must he file a divisional application for it?
The case is pending under Ref. No. G 2/92.