Can handwritten amendments be filed during oral proceedings in opposition by VICO?

Guidelines E-III, 8.7.3, apply to oral proceedings in opposition by VICO. The proprietor can submit patent documents with handwritten amendments. These documents must be filed as PDF attachments and comply with the WIPO Standard for Filing and Processing in Electronic Form (Annex F).

If the interlocutory decision of the opposition division is based on documents which do not comply with Rule 49(8) EPC, i.e. which contain handwritten amendments, the opposition division will invite the proprietor in the communication under Rule 82(2) EPC to file a formally compliant version of the amended text. The invitation will specify the formally deficient amended paragraphs and/or claims for which replacement paragraphs and/or claims need to be filed.

Instead of submitting handwritten amendments – which require scanning – you may submit typed amendments using the text available from the European Publication Server. Find out more in this tutorial.