II. - Business distribution 2008
II.1
Business distribution scheme of the Enlarged Board of Appeal for the year 2008
The Enlarged Board of Appeal,
having regard to Rule 11, paragraph 1, EPC 1973 and to Rule 13, paragraph 1, EPC 2000,
hereby decides the following business distribution scheme:
PART I:
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal
(1) The internal members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (Article 11(3) EPC) are:
Chairman:
Peter Messerli
Legally qualified members:
Brigitte Günzel
Richard Menapace
Steven Perryman
Christopher Rennie-Smith
Beat Schachenmann
Jean-Pierre Seitz
Marie-Bernadette Tardo-Dino
Martin Vogel
Technically qualified members:
Paul Alting van Geusau
Pieter-Paul Bracke
Michel Ceyte
Alexander Clelland
Stephen Crane
Franz Edlinger
Reinhard Freimuth
Leonardo Galligani
Ursula Kinkeldey
Peter Kitzmantel
André Klein
Ulrich Krause
Thomas Kriner
Hugo Meinders
Richard O'Connell
Ulrich Oswald
Patrick Ranguis
Gaston Raths
Dai Rees
Marco Ruggiu
Stefan Steinbrener
Robert Young
Wolfgang Zellhuber.
(2) The legally qualified external members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (Article 11(5) EPC) are:
Michael Sachs (AT)
Kathrin Klett (CH)
Stelios Nathanael (CY)
Uwe Scharen (DE)
Michael Dorn (DK)
Kai Härmand (EE)
José M. Suárez Robledano (ES)
Oscar Wilder (FI)
Alice Pézard (FR)
Sir Nicholas Richard Pumfrey (GB)
Fidelma Macken (IE)
Massimo Scuffi (IT)
Josine Fasseur-van Santen (NL)
Octavia Spineanu-Matei (RO)
Alf Linder (SE)
Hazal Zengingül (TR).
PART II:
PROCEEDINGS UNDER ARTICLE 112 EPC
Article 2
Composition of the Enlarged Board of Appeal in proceedings under Article 112 EPC
(1) Decisions shall be taken by an Enlarged Board of Appeal consisting of seven members, of whom no more than two may have the same nationality.
(a) The regular members shall be:
Chairman:
Peter Messerli
Legally qualified members:
Steven Perryman
Jean-Pierre Seitz
Brigitte Günzel
Beat Schachenmann
Technically qualified members:
Ursula Kinkeldey
Paul Alting van Geusau
(b) replaced as necessary by the following alternates:
Legally qualified members:
Christopher Rennie-Smith
Richard Menapace
Marie-Bernadette Tardo-Dino
Martin Vogel
Technically qualified members:
Robert Young
Stefan Steinbrener
Stephen Crane
Leonardo Galligani
Ulrich Oswald
Alexander Clelland
André Klein
Thomas Kriner
Michel Ceyte
Peter Kitzmantel
Ulrich Krause
Hugo Meinders
Richard O'Connell
Franz Edlinger
Reinhard Freimuth
Pieter-Paul Bracke
Wolfgang Zellhuber
Marco Ruggiu
Gaston Raths
Patrick Ranguis
Dai Rees.
(2) The substitute for the Chairman shall be one of the legally qualified members in the order listed in paragraph 1(a).
(3) Where a regular member has participated in a case referred to the Enlarged Board of Appeal or in a decision which is the subject of a referral of the President of the European Patent Office, the Chairman shall, after consulting the regular members (paragraph 1(a)), appoint as substitute a member from amongst the alternates (paragraph 1(b)) or an external legally qualified member in accordance with paragraph 5. The same applies if a regular member is prevented from participating.
(4) If a case involving a question of substantive patentability or other points of law having a technical aspect is referred to the Enlarged Board, the Chairman may, after consulting the regular members, designate a technically qualified member with the relevant technical knowledge from amongst the alternates (paragraph 1(b)), as substitute for a technically qualified regular member.
(5) If a case whose scope extends beyond the internal administration of the European Patent Office is referred to the Enlarged Board, the Chairman may, after consulting the regular members, designate one or two legally qualified external members (Article 1(2)) to replace one or two legally qualified regular members.
Article 3
Designation of legally qualified external members
(1) The legally qualified external members shall be called upon in the alphabetical order used by the Administrative Council for listing the Contracting States, provided there is a match between the language of the proceedings and their working language(s).
(2) Newly appointed legally qualified external members will not be called upon until the next round, if at the date of their appointment another member who is further down the list according to Article 1(2) has already been called upon.
(3) Should a legally qualified external member be unavailable, then the next legally qualified external member according to Article 1(2) is to be called upon.
(4) Where an external legally qualified member is unavailable because the language of the proceedings does not correspond to his working languages, he shall be called upon for the next case in his working language under Article 2(5).
Article 4
Composition of the Enlarged Board where a number of referrals are closely linked
Where several referrals pending before the Enlarged Board are closely linked by involving similar points of law, the Chairman may order that the Board shall decide in the same composition. In such a case the composition shall be the same as for the first received referral.
PART III:
PROCEEDINGS UNDER ARTICLE 112a EPC
Article 5
Composition of the Enlarged Board of Appeal in proceedings under Article 112a EPC
Decisions shall be taken by an Enlarged Board consisting of three or five members.
The regular members shall be:
Chairman:
Peter Messerli
Legally qualified members:
Steven Perryman
Jean-Pierre Seitz
Brigitte Günzel
Beat Schachenmann
Christopher Rennie-Smith
Richard Menapace
Marie-Bernadette Tardo-Dino
Martin Vogel
Technically qualified members:
Ursula Kinkeldey
Paul Alting van Geusau
Robert Young
Stefan Steinbrener
Stephen Crane
Leonardo Galligani
Ulrich Oswald
Alexander Clelland
André Klein
Thomas Kriner
Michel Ceyte
Peter Kitzmantel
Ulrich Krause
Hugo Meinders
Richard O'Connell
Franz Edlinger
Reinhard Freimuth
Pieter-Paul Bracke
Wolfgang Zellhuber
Marco Ruggiu
Gaston Raths
Patrick Ranguis
Dai Rees.
Article 6
Composition of an Enlarged Board consisting of three members
(1) On receipt of a petition for review by the registry, the Chairman shall, from amongst the regular members, determine the composition of the Board which is to examine it pursuant to Rule 109(2)(a) EPC.
(2) Individual cases shall be assigned to the regular members of the Enlarged Board one after another in the order of their listing in Article 5. The Chairman may depart from this order for serious reasons, such as illness, workload, language requirements of the case or, in designating the technically qualified member, the possession of relevant technical expertise. In that event the next member in the order indicated in the first sentence shall be appointed in accordance with the above criteria. A member not appointed on account of the second sentence or of paragraph 3 shall be appointed to the next case in accordance with the above criteria.
(3) If a regular member is excluded under Article 2(5) of the Rules of Procedure of the Enlarged Board of Appeal from taking part in the review proceedings, the Chairman shall appoint another regular member as substitute in accordance with paragraph 2.
(4) The substitute for the Chairman shall be one of the legally qualified regular members listed in Article 5.
Article 7
Composition of an Enlarged Board consisting of five members
(1) Once a petition for review has been submitted, under Article 17 of the Rules of Procedure of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, to a Board composed according to Rule 109(2)(b) EPC, the Chairman shall designate the additional legally qualified members from amongst the regular members in accordance with Article 6(2).
(2) Article 6(3) shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(3) If a case raising fundamental issues of procedural law that extend beyond the internal administration of the European Patent Office is referred to the Enlarged Board, the Chairman may where necessary designate a legally qualified external member (Article 1(2)) to replace a legally qualified regular member in accordance with Article 3.
Article 8
Composition of the Enlarged Board where a number of petitions for review are closely linked
Where several petitions for review pending before the Enlarged Board are closely linked, the Chairman may order that the Board shall decide in the same composition. In such a case the composition for all petitions shall be as for the petition received first.
Article 9
Change of a composition
(1) If the Chairman cannot or can no longer participate in the case to which he has been assigned, he shall be replaced by one of the legally qualified regular members listed in Article 5.
(2) If a member cannot or can no longer participate in the case to which he has been assigned, the Chairman shall designate another member in accordance with Articles 6 and 7.
PART IV:
FINAL PROVISION
Article 10
Term of validity
This business distribution scheme shall apply from 1 January 2008 until 31 December 2008.
Done at Munich on 12 November 2007
For the Enlarged Board of Appeal
The Chairman
Peter Messerli