List of decisions and opinions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Encyclopedia
This is a list of decisions and opinions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal
of the European Patent Office
(EPO) in chronological order of the dates when the decisions were issued. The list is incomplete.
Appeal procedure before the European Patent Office
Decisions of the first instances of the European Patent Office can be appealed, i.e. challenged, before the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, in a judicial procedure , as opposed to an administrative procedure. These boards act as the final instances in the granting and opposition procedures before the...
of the European Patent Office
European Patent Office
The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation , the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative...
(EPO) in chronological order of the dates when the decisions were issued. The list is incomplete.
| Keys: | Decision(s), after referral by a Board of Appeal under Art. 112(1)(a) EPC | Opinion, after referral by the President of the EPO under Art. 112(1)(b) EPC | Decision and opinion, in consolidated or identical cases |
|---|
1980 – 1989
| Reference | Date | Keywords and/or comments | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| G 1/83 G 2/83 G 3/83 G 4/83 G 5/83 G 6/83 G 7/83 |
12 May 1984 | Patentability Patentability Within the context of a national or multilateral body of law, an invention is patentable if it meets the relevant legal conditions to be granted a patent... - Art. 52(4) - first and second medical indications (G 1/83, G 5/83 and G 6/83 have been published, respectively in German German language German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.... , English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... and French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... , the three official languages of the EPO. The four other decisions have not been published.) |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g830001dp1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g830005ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g830006fp1.htm |
| G 1/84 G 1/84 G 1/84 is a decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office , which was issued on July 24, 1985. The Board held in this decision that:The decision was however overruled by the later decision of the Enlarged Board G 9/93, where it was held that a European patent cannot be... |
24 July 1985 | Opposition by proprietor - overturned by G 9/93 | |
| G 1/86 | 24 June 1987 | Art. 122 - Restitutio in integrum Restitutio in integrum Restitutio in integrum is a Latin maxim which means restoration to original condition. It is one of the primary guiding principles behind the awarding of damages in common law negligence claims... - opponent not barred - time limit statement grounds of appeal |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g860001ep1.htm |
| G 4/88 | 24 April 1989 | Opposition - transfer - part of the business assets | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g880004ep1.htm |
| G 2/88 | 12 November 1989 | Art. 123(3) - change of category - use claim novel by its purpose | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g880002ep1.htm |
| G 6/88 | 12 November 1989 | Novelty - second non-medical indication yes (Partially identical to G 2/88.) |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g880006ep1.htm |
1990 – 1994
| Reference | Date | Keywords and/or comments | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| G 1/89 G 2/89 |
21 February 1990 | Patent Cooperation Treaty Patent Cooperation Treaty The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states... - unity of invention Unity of invention In most patent laws, unity of invention is a formal administrative requirement that must be met by a patent application to become a granted patent. Basically, a patent application can relate only to one invention or a group of closely related inventions. The purpose of this requirement is... - a priori and a posteriori |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g890001ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g890002ep1.htm |
| G 5/88 G 7/88 G 8/88 |
16 November 1990 | Filing of notice of opposition at the DPMA Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt The Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt or German Patent and Trade Mark Office is the German national patent office, with headquarters in Munich, and offices in Berlin and Jena... before July 1, 1989 |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g880005ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g880007ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g880008ep1.htm |
| G 7/91 G 8/91 |
11 May 1992 | Appeal - withdrawal of sole appellant - termination | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g910007ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g910008ep1.htm |
| G 3/89 G 11/91 |
19 November 1992 | Art. 123(2) - strictly declaratory nature of Rule 88 corrections | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g890003ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g910011ep1.htm |
| G 1/92 | 18 December 1992 | Novelty Novelty (patent) Novelty is a patentability requirement. An invention is not patentable if the claimed subject matter was disclosed before the date of filing, or before the date of priority if a priority is claimed, of the patent application.... - availability to the public - prior use |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g920001ep1.htm |
| G 9/91 | 31 March 1993 | Framework of opposition and appeal - extent | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g910009ep1.htm |
| G 10/91 | 31 March 1993 | Framework of opposition and appeal - grounds | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g910010ep1.htm |
| G 4/92 | 22 October 1993 | Oral proceedings - party absent - new facts or evidence | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g920004ep1.htm |
| G 1/93 | 21 February 1994 | Art. 123(2) & (3) - conflict - inescapable trap | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g930001ep1.htm |
| G 9/93 | 7 June 1994 | Opposition by patent proprietor - no - overturning G 1/84 G 1/84 G 1/84 is a decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office , which was issued on July 24, 1985. The Board held in this decision that:The decision was however overruled by the later decision of the Enlarged Board G 9/93, where it was held that a European patent cannot be... |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g930009ep1.htm |
| G 9/92 G 4/93 |
14 July 1994 | Framework of appeal - extent (decision) - reformatio in peius Reformatio in peius is a Latin phrase used in law meaning that a decision from a court of appeal is amended to a worse one.... (With an indication of a minority opinion.) |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g920009ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g930004ex1.htm |
| G 1/94 | 5 November 1994 | Intervention during pending appeal proceedings - fresh grounds | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g940001ep1.htm |
| G 10/93 | 30 November 1994 | Framework of appeal - ex parte - main aim: examination of the contested decision but no ban from introducing new grounds, facts or evidence | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g930010ep1.htm |
1995 – 1999
| Reference | Date | Keywords and/or comments | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| G 4/95 | 19 February 1996 | Oral proceedings - representation - accompanying person ("Oral submissions by an accompanying person in opposition or opposition appeal proceedings") | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g950004ep1.htm |
| G 1/95 G 7/95 |
19 July 1996 | Framework of opposition and appeal - Art. 100(a) - collection of grounds | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g950001ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g950007ep1.htm |
| G 3/97 G 4/97 |
2 January 1999 | Opposition on behalf of third party - strawman Straw man A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position, twisting his words or by means of [false] assumptions... - circumvention of law by abuse of process |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g970003ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g970004ep1.htm |
| G 1/97 | 12 October 1999 | Appeal - request to review a final decision, not provided for in the EPC | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g970001ep1.htm |
2000 – 2004
| Reference | Date | Keywords and/or comments | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| G 1/99 | 4 February 2001 | Framework of appeal -extent (decision) - reformatio in peius - exception | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g990001ep1.htm |
| G 2/98 | 31 May 2001 | Priority Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property... - same invention - direct and unambiguous derivation |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g980002ep1.htm |
| G 1/03 G 1/03 and G 2/03 G 1/03 and G 2/03 are two decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office , which were both issued on April 8, 2004.... G 2/03 G 1/03 and G 2/03 G 1/03 and G 2/03 are two decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office , which were both issued on April 8, 2004.... |
8 April 2004 | Allowability of disclaimers Disclaimer (patent) In patent law, a disclaimer are words identifying, in a claim, subject-matter that is not claimed. By extension, a disclaimer may also mean the action of introduction a negative limitation in a claim, i.e. "an amendment to a claim resulting in the incorporation therein of a "negative" technical... |
http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g030001ep1.htm http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/biblio/g030002ep1.htm |
2005 – 2009
| Reference | Date | Keywords and/or comments | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| G 2/04 | 25 May 2005 | Transfer of opposition (i.e., of the status as an opponent), filing of an appeal when "there is a justifiable legal uncertainty as to how the law is to be interpreted in respect of the question of who the correct party to the proceedings is". | http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj005/11_05/11_5495.pdf |
| G 1/05 G 1/05 and G 1/06 G 1/05 and G 1/06 are decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office that were issued on 28 June 2007 and answer questions relating to divisional applications under the European Patent Convention . The two decisions were published in the Official Journal of the EPO in May... G 1/06 G 1/05 and G 1/06 G 1/05 and G 1/06 are decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office that were issued on 28 June 2007 and answer questions relating to divisional applications under the European Patent Convention . The two decisions were published in the Official Journal of the EPO in May... |
28 June 2007 | Divisional applications | http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/pdf/g000105.pdf http://legal.european-patent-office.org/dg3/pdf/g000106.pdf |
| G 2/06 G 2/06 G 2/06 is a decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office , which was issued on November 25, 2008. The Enlarged Board of Appeal decided that, under the European Patent Convention , a patent cannot be granted for an invention which necessarily involves the use and... |
25 November 2008 | Stem cell Stem cell This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells... s, non-patentability of inventions involving the use and destruction of human embryos, . |
http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/428862B3DA9649A9C125750E002E8E94/$FILE/G0002_06_en.pdf |
From 2010
| Reference | Date | Keywords and/or comments | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| G 1/07 G 1/07 G 1/07 is a decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office , which was issued on February 15, 2010. The Enlarged Board of Appeal notably decided that, under the European Patent Convention ,- See also :... |
15 February 2010 | Methods for treatment by surgery | http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj011/03_11/03_1341.pdfhttp://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/cdd5fb0c3153e9c3c12576cb00563d2d/$FILE/G1_07_en.pdf |
| G 4/08 | 16 February 2010 | Language of the proceedings. No change of the language of a Euro-PCT application upon entry into European phase if the language of the PCT application is already in an EPO official language. | http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/78454414353b7aa2c12576cc004087bd/$FILE/G4_08_fr.pdf |
| G 2/08 | 19 February 2010 | Dosage regimen | http://archive.epo.org/epo/pubs/oj010/10_10/10_4560.pdfhttp://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/1c9976e4866080a2c12576cf00417e3e/$FILE/G2_08_en.pdf |
| G 3/08 G 3/08 Under case number G 3/08, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO issued on May 12, 2010 an opinion in response to questions referred to it by the President of the European Patent Office , Alison Brimelow, on October 22, 2008... |
12 May 2010 | Patentability of programs for computers, referral dismissed | http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/DC6171F182D8B65AC125772100426656/$File/G3_08_opinion_en.pdf |
| G 1/09 | 27 September 2010 | Pending application. Time limit for filing a divisional application, and meaning of "pending" in | https://register.epoline.org/espacenet/application?documentId=EQTOHY244333154&number=EP05027368&lng=en&npl=false |
| G 2/07 G 1/08 |
9 December 2010 | Essentially biological processes | http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/791D677646A4A968C12577F4004C3445/$File/G2_07_en.pdf http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/E72204692CFE1DC3C12577F4004BEA42/$File/G1_08_en.pdf |
| G 2/10 | 30 August 2011 | Allowability of disclaimers under if the disclaimed subject-matter was (positively) disclosed as an embodiment of the invention in the application as filed | http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/C777CFB3654BB240C12578FE00485B6C/$File/g2_10.pdf |
Pending referrals
| Reference | Date | Keywords and/or comments | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| G 1/10 | referred 23 June 2010 | Correction of the decision to grant after initiation of opposition proceedings, application of (referral in Board of Appeal decision T 1145/09) | https://register.epoline.org/espacenet/application?documentId=EQE8ECCL0125493&number=EP99115002&lng=en&npl=false |
| G 1/11 | referred 4 August 2011 | Competence of the Boards of Appeal |
Trivia
- Case G 3/92 also led to an indication of a dissenting opinion, relating to an issue of right to the patent
- Case G 9/93 reversed previous opinion laid out in G 1/84, regarding the allowability of an opposition by the patent proprietor. G 1/84 accepted such type of opinion, G 9/93 then rejected it.