Pages 2-9

II. BUSINESS DISTRIBUTION 2012¹ - II.1 - Business distribution scheme of the Enlarged Board of Appeal for the year 2012

The Enlarged Board of Appeal,

having regard to Rule 13, paragraph 1, of the Implementing Regulations to the European Patent Convention,

and to Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Rules of Procedure of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, 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:

Wim van der Eijk

Legally qualified members:

Ingo Beckedorf

Eugène Dufrasne

Kevin Garnett

Brigitte Günzel

Richard Menapace

Christopher Rennie-Smith

Beat Schachenmann

(until 31.1.2012)

Marie-Bernadette Tardo-Dino

Martin Vogel

Gérard Weiss.

Technically qualified members:

Gianni Assi

(as from 1.2.2012)

Pieter-Paul Bracke

Michel Ceyte

(until 31.3.2012)

Alexander Clelland

Albert de Vries

(as from 1.4.2012)

Franz Edlinger

Gunnar Eliasson

Pascal Gryczka

Michael Harrison

André Klein

Ulrich Krause

Thomas Kriner

Hugo Meinders

Ulrich Oswald

Michael Poock

(as from 1.3.2012)

Giovanni Pricolo

Patrick Ranguis

Gaston Raths

Dai Rees

Joseph Riolo

Andrea Ritzka

Marco Ruggiu

Werner Sieber

Bianca ter Laan

Stefan Wibergh

Manfred Wieser

Wolfgang Zellhuber

(until 29.2.2012).

(2) The legally qualified external members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (Article 11(5) EPC) are:

Michael Sachs (AT)

Samuel Granata (BE)

Kathrin Klett (CH)

Stelios Nathanael (CY)

Pavel Tůma (CZ)

Jochem Gröning (DE)

Hendrik Rothe (DK)

Kai Härmand (EE)

José M. Suárez Robledano (ES)

Ari Wirén (FI)

Alice Pézard (FR)

Christopher Floyd (GB)

Fidelma Macken (IE)

(until 29.2.2012)

Roderick Murphy (IE)

(as from 1.3.2012)

Gabriella Muscolo (IT)

Stéphanie Vikström (MC)

Robert van Peursem (NL)

Are Stenvik (NO)

Octavia Spineanu-Matei (RO)

Per Carlson (SE)

Ilhami Güneş (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:

Wim van der Eijk

Legally qualified members:

Brigitte Günzel

Beat Schachenmann

(until 31.1.2012)

Christopher Rennie-Smith

Richard Menapace

Gérard Weiss

(as from 1.2.2012)

Technically qualified members:

Ulrich Oswald

Alexander Clelland

(b) replaced as necessary by the following alternates:

Legally qualified members:

Marie-Bernadette Tardo-Dino

Martin Vogel

Kevin Garnett

Gérard Weiss

(until 31.1.2012)

Ingo Beckedorf

Eugène Dufrasne

Technically qualified members:

André Klein

Thomas Kriner

Michel Ceyte

(until 31.3.2012)

Ulrich Krause

Hugo Meinders

Franz Edlinger

Pieter-Paul Bracke

Wolfgang Zellhuber

(until 29.2.2012)

Marco Ruggiu

Gaston Raths

Patrick Ranguis

Dai Rees

Gunnar Eliasson

Stefan Wibergh

Werner Sieber

Andrea Ritzka

Pascal Gryczka

Giovanni Pricolo

Joseph Riolo

Manfred Wieser

Bianca ter Laan

Michael Harrison

Gianni Assi

(as from 1.2.2012)

Michael Poock

(as from 1.3.2012)

Albert de Vries

(as from 1.4.2012).

(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 referral received first.

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:

Wim van der Eijk

Legally qualified members:

Brigitte Günzel

Beat Schachenmann

(until 31.1.2012)

Christopher Rennie-Smith

Richard Menapace

Marie-Bernadette Tardo-Dino

Martin Vogel

Kevin Garnett

Gérard Weiss

Ingo Beckedorf

Eugène Dufrasne

Technically qualified members:

Ulrich Oswald

Alexander Clelland

André Klein

Thomas Kriner

Michel Ceyte

(until 31.3.2012)

Ulrich Krause

Hugo Meinders

Franz Edlinger

Pieter-Paul Bracke

Wolfgang Zellhuber

(until 29.2.2012)

Marco Ruggiu

Gaston Raths

Patrick Ranguis

Dai Rees

Gunnar Eliasson

Stefan Wibergh

Werner Sieber

Andrea Ritzka

Pascal Gryczka

Giovanni Pricolo

Joseph Riolo

Manfred Wieser

Bianca ter Laan

Michael Harrison

Gianni Assi

(as from 1.2.2012)

Michael Poock

(as from 1.3.2012)

Albert de Vries

(as from 1.4.2012).

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 2012 until 31 December 2012.

Done at Munich on 19 December 2011

For the Enlarged Board of Appeal

The Chairman

W. VAN DER EIJK