Case Law Conference 2024

Annual conference shares recent BoA case law with the user community

On 21 and 22 November, the annual Case Law Conference, jointly organised by the Boards of Appeal and the European Patent Academy, was held. More than 950 attendees from the patent profession, judiciary, academia and the EPO joined online to gain insights into the recent important case law and topics of the Boards of Appeal.

In his opening address, Boards of Appeal President Carl Josefsson underlined the importance of this event, being one of the key pillars of the Boards of Appeal’s outreach and dialogue with the user community. He further emphasised that for the benefit of the European patent system deepened ties between all stakeholders are crucial, in particular those between the judicial pillars of the system, which share the common commitment to the rule of law and the common responsibility to reach a harmonised interpretation of the EPC.

The Case Law Conference brings together expertise shared by chairpersons, and technically and legally qualified members.  On the agenda was a comprehensive overview of recent key decisions on patentability issues, followed by case law on selected topics from the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal, namely carry-over requests and requirements for submissions in appeal. The second afternoon consisted of presentations on case law implementing recent G decisions, specifically G 2/21 and consolidated cases G 1/22 and G 2/22. Concluding the conference, the customary judges' panel hosted an exchange of perspectives on inventive step from the Boards of Appeal, the UPC, Switzerland and the UK.