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T 2178/19 04-03-2021
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METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING AIR
L AIR LIQUIDE SOCIETE ANONYME POUR L ETUDE ET L
EXPLOITATION DES PROCEDES GEORGES CLAUDE
Admissibility of appeal - statement of grounds
Admissibility of appeal - filed within time limit (no)
I. The opponent (here "appellant") contests the decision of the opposition division posted on 29 May 2019 that European patent No. 2 324 313 as amended according to auxiliary request 1 before it met the requirements of the EPC.
II. The appellant filed a notice of appeal on 26 July 2019 and paid the appeal fee on the same day.
III. By communication of 4 November 2019 the Registry of the Board informed the appellant that it appeared from the file that the written statement of grounds of appeal had not been filed. It was therefore to be expected that the appeal would be rejected as inadmissible pursuant to Article 108, third sentence, EPC in conjunction with Rule 101(1) EPC. The appellant was informed that any observations had to be filed within two months of notification of the communication. Receipt of this communication was duly confirmed by the appellant.
IV. The appellant filed no observations in response to said communication.
1. No document purporting to be the written statement of grounds of appeal was filed within the time limit provided by Article 108, third sentence, EPC in conjunction with Rule 126(2) EPC.
2. In addition, neither the notice of appeal nor any other document filed contains anything that could be regarded as a statement of grounds pursuant to Article 108 EPC and Rule 99(2) EPC.
3. Therefore, the appeal has to be rejected as inadmissible (Rule 101(1) EPC).
For these reasons it is decided that:
The appeal is rejected as inadmissible.