Communications from the Boards of Appeal 2019

10.10.2019 List of cases for 2020 published: The list shows for each Board the cases in which the Board is likely to hold oral proceedings, issue a communication under Rule 100, paragraph 2, EPC, or issue a decision in written proceedings.

1.10.2019 Business Distribution Scheme as of 1 October 2019: The Boards of Appeal are well on track to meet their objective of settling 90% of cases within 30 months of receipt and reducing the number of pending cases to below 7000 by 2023.

27.9.2019 EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal issues the full reasons for its decision G 2/19 on the right to oral proceedings before the Boards of Appeal at their site in Haar: The Enlarged Board of Appeal announced the order of its decision in referral case G 2/19 at the end of the oral proceedings of 16 July 2019 on questions of law relating to the right to oral proceedings.

3.9.2019 The newly designed ninth edition of the "Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO" is now available online.: The latest edition contains summaries of or references to almost 7 000 decisions which were issued in writing in the period up to the end of 2018.

18.7.2019 Opinion G 1/18 on the distinction between an appeal deemed not to have been filed and an inadmissible appeal, and on the consequences of this: The Enlarged Board of Appeal today issued opinion G 1/18 on the distinction between an appeal deemed not to have been filed and an inadmissible appeal, and on the consequences of this.

17.7.2019 Decision in case G 2/19: Yesterday the Enlarged Board of Appeal announced its decision in case G 2/19 at the conclusion of the oral proceedings.

4.7.2019 Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal - in force from 1 January 2020: The revised Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA) were adopted by the Boards of Appeal Committee on 4 April 2019 and were unanimously approved by the Administrative Council at its 160th meeting on 26 and 27 June 2019. They will come into force on 1 January 2020, and are therefore referenced below as “RPBA 2020”.

9.5.2019 Oral proceedings in case G 2/19: The Enlarged Board of Appeal has summoned the parties in case G 2/19, “Recht auf mündliche Verhandlung bei ersichtlich unzulässiger Beschwerde und rechtliches Gehör am richtigen Ort”, to oral proceedings on 16 July 2019 in the Isar building

2.5.2019 Judicial internships at the Boards of Appeal: The Boards of Appeal offer a limited number of internship places for national judges of the EPC contracting states. For details of the programme see...

30.4.2019 Boards of Appeal Annual Report 2018 is published today: The Boards of Appeal again increased their performance in 2018. From 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018, the number of technical cases settled increased by 22.6% and productivity (i.e. cases settled with action divided by technical member capacity) by 18%.

5.2.2019 Written decision in case T 1063/18 on the patentability of plants issued: Technical Board of Appeal 3.3.04, in an enlarged composition consisting of three technically and two legally qualified members, decided that Rule 28(2) EPC was in conflict with Article 53(b) EPC as interpreted by the Enlarged Board of Appeal in decisions G 2/12 and G 2/13.

24.1.2019 Filing notice of appeal on paper: new form available: A new form (EPO Form 3002) has been created for parties choosing to file notice of appeal on paper. The form, which is optional, is designed to help parties avoid typical mistakes when filing the notice of appeal. In particular, it indicates the information to be provided so that the minimum requirements for the content of the notice of appeal under Rule 99(1) EPC are met.