Note to readers - Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and measures adopted in 2020-2021
In 2020, the European Patent Office and the Boards of Appeal adopted various precautionary measures in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These were revised several times in the course of 2020 and 2021.
In particular, over the course of 2020 and 2021 the Boards of Appeal have conducted oral proceedings in three different formats, namely in person, online by videoconference, and in a "mixed mode".
In 2021, new Article 15a RPBA 2020 came into force on 1 April 2021 (see OJ EPO 2021, A19 and OJ EPO 2021, A35). Apart from Parts I and II (yearly), Part III (RPBA 2020, consolidated version taking into account new Article 15a) and Part XI, the present edition does not contain much new text compared to the previous edition.
In addition, the "Annual list of cases 2022" published in accordance with Article 1(2) RPBA 2020 can be found in the website section entitled "About the Boards of Appeal". This list is not reproduced in the present publication.