5.3. Proprietor's approval of amended text of the patent

In T 861/16, the board held that since the principle of tacit acceptance ("qui tacet consentire videtur") was not established in the EPC, it was not enough for an opposition division merely to ask the patent proprietor whether it wished to comment on amendments to the description which had been prepared by the division. It had to ensure that the patent proprietor approved them (on the need for a text submitted or agreed by the proprietor, see also chapter III.B.3.).