- Die Rücknahme eines Antrags kann ausdrücklich oder konkludent erfolgen. Eine konkludente Antragsrücknahme liegt vor, wenn sich aus den Umständen zweifelsfrei ergibt, dass bestimmte Anträge nicht weiterverfolgt werden sollen.

- Werden Anträge, die im Beschwerdeverfahren zunächst gestellt und nachfolgend ausdrücklich oder konkludent zurückgenommen worden waren, später erneut eingereicht (wieder aufgegriffen), richtet sich ihre Zulassung nach den verfahrensrechtlichen Normen der VOBK, die für die Zulassung eines gänzlich neuen Antrags maßgeblich sind.

Filing of a series of main requests resulting in each new main request being considered as replacing the previously filed main request. Procedural steps preventing the department of first instance from deciding on relevant issues. (See points 1.1-2.11 of the reasoning)

In T 52/15 the proprietor (appellant) filed a new "main request" every time the opposition division announced its opinion that the previous main request did not comply with the requirements of the EPC. Since the opposition division was of the opinion that the last main request did not comply with Art. 56 EPC, it revoked the patent. The appealed decision dealt only with this last main request. The proprietor requested that the decision be set aside and that the patent be maintained as granted or, alternatively, on the basis of one of auxiliary requests 1 to 4, which differed substantially from the request which was decided upon in the appealed decision. The proprietor argued that the previously filed main requests had not been withdrawn. Each new request was meant to supersede the previous one for the purpose of discussion only, but not to replace it. The board noted that the opposition division did not err when considering that each newly filed "main request" was clearly meant to replace the previously filed one/s. The board emphasised that the withdrawal of a request was a serious procedural step which was usually announced explicitly by a party via a corresponding statement and that any such statement must be mentioned in the minutes (see T 361/08). However, an explicit withdrawal was not required if a party's behaviour or procedural steps it took during the proceedings made its intention unequivocal (see T 388/12). The board also highlighted the fact that, according to established EPO practice, parties filing more than one request must specify which request is the main request, which is/are the auxiliary request(s), and, if there are several auxiliary requests, their ranking (see e.g. R 14/10). The board concluded that the written decision of the opposition division was based on the only request that was pending when the decision to revoke the patent was orally announced. The main request and auxiliary requests 1 and 2 were filed with the statement setting out the grounds of appeal and corresponded to the proprietor's initial request and two auxiliary requests filed during the oral proceedings before the opposition division. These requests differed substantially from the request which was decided upon in the appealed decision. The board stated that the reintroduction of previously withdrawn requests on appeal ran counter to the main purpose of inter partes appeal proceedings, namely to give the losing party the possibility of challenging the decision of the opposition division on its merits. The board also noted that although there have been decisions where the boards have allowed patent proprietors to reinstate broader requests which had been withdrawn or not maintained during the opposition proceedings, numerous decisions have also been issued in which the board's discretion has been applied in a strict manner and such requests have not been admitted into the appeal proceedings (see T 390/07, T 361/08, T 671/08, T 922/08, T 1525/10, T 140/12, T 1697/12, T 143/14). This appeared to be the current predominant approach applied by the boards. The requests were not admitted into the appeal proceedings (Art. 12(4) RPBA 2007).

In T 1695/14 the auxiliary request in question, which the patent proprietor had filed during the oral proceedings, was the same as one of the auxiliary requests it had filed with its grounds of appeal. But the proprietor had not then pursued that original auxiliary request in the written proceedings, instead filing new auxiliary requests with a written submission stating that it wanted them to replace its previous ones. The board interpreted this statement as an implicit withdrawal of the auxiliary request; requests could be withdrawn either explicitly or implicitly, the latter being when the circumstances left no doubt that a party no longer wished to pursue them (see T 388/12, T 52/15). Requests not later pursued as the main or an auxiliary request, but (implicitly) withdrawn, did not remain in the proceedings; procedural law provided for current and withdrawn requests, but not for ones on hold. The board then considered the relevant criteria for admitting a resubmitted request. Since a withdrawn request no longer formed part of the proceedings (see T 1732/10, T 143/14), its admission on resubmission later in them was subject to the same procedural standards as applied to an entirely new one (see T 1732/10, T 122/10); this was the boards' settled case law. Hence a request initially filed on appeal but implicitly or explicitly withdrawn later on in the proceedings had to be considered a new request when subsequently refiled. Its admission was then governed in particular by Art. 13 RPBA 2007 and the criteria for exercising discretion under it developed by the case law.