2.6.4 References

In T 16/14, on the relevance of documents E1/E1a and E2/E2a for the patentability of the subject-matter of claim 1 according to the main request, the board observed that the appellant's statement of grounds of appeal merely referred to its notice of opposition and written submissions at first instance, i.e. to the written case it had made as opponent in those first-instance proceedings. Under Art. 12(2) RPBA 2007, the statement of grounds of appeal had to contain the party's complete case and specify expressly all the facts, arguments and evidence relied on and it was the boards' settled case law that a statement referring generally to submissions at first instance was usually insufficient. The appellant ought to have dealt explicitly with the substance of documents E1/E1a and E2/E2a in its statement. The board therefore concluded that the requirements of Art. 12(2) RPBA 2007 were not met by the mere reference to the case made at first instance and that the submissions on documents E1/E1a and E2/E2a therefore had to be disregarded on appeal in accordance with Art. 12(4) RPBA 2007.