Article 11

Business distribution scheme of the Legal Board of Appeal for 2026

The Presidium,

pursuant to Rule 12b, paragraph 4, of the Implementing Regulations to the European Patent Convention,

having regard to Article 1, paragraph 1, of the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal,

adopts the following business distribution scheme1:

Article 1

Members of the Legal Board of Appeal

The members of the Legal Board of Appeal are:

Chair:

Ingo Beckedorf

Members2:

Richard Winkelhofer*

Tamás Bokor

Christopher Heath

Bernhard Müller

David Rogers

Lukas Bühler

Christof Schmidt

Peter Guntz

Wilhelm Ungler

Olga Loizou

Sofía Fernández de Córdoba

Martina Blasi

Yvonne Podbielski

Jeannine Hoppe

Georg Decker

Carl Josefsson

Aurélie Jimenez

Roberto Romandini

Nikolaus Obrovski

Anna Bacchin

Eric Mille

Karoline Kerber-Zubrzycka

Frédéric Bostedt

Laurence Basterreix

Monika Millet

Birgit Burm-Herregodts

Stefanie Ruhwinkel

Article 2

Composition of the Board for a particular appeal

(1) The Chair shall determine the composition of the Board responsible for deciding on the appeal from amongst the Board members.

(2) In determining the composition, the Chair shall in particular take account of the workload of each member and the language requirements of the case.

(3) Where appeals pending before the Board are closely linked, in particular by involving similar legal or factual questions, the Chair may order that the Board shall decide on them in the same composition.

Article 3

Replacement of members

If a member cannot or can no longer participate in a case for which they have been designated, the Chair shall designate another member of the Board to replace that member, having regard in particular to the criteria indicated in Article 2, paragraph 2.

Article 4

Exclusion and objection

(1) For the purpose of taking a decision on exclusion or objection under Article 24, paragraph 4, EPC, the Chair in the particular appeal or other members concerned shall be replaced by their alternates.

(2) The alternate to the Chair or another member shall be the next member on the list as set out in Article 1, with the first member on the list being the alternate to the last one on the list.

(3) If the alternate to the Chair or to another member is unavailable, the next member on the list as set out in Article 1 shall become the alternate.

Article 5

Term of validity

This business distribution scheme shall apply from 1 January 2026 until 31 December 2026.

Done at Haar on 1 December 2025

For the Presidium

The Chair

C. JOSEFSSON

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1. 1 Editor’s note: Amendments to the business distribution scheme in the course of the year will be published only on the relevant web-section of the Boards of Appeal.

2. 2 The Chair's deputy is indicated by an asterisk (*).