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Recently published decisions
All board of appeal decisions released for publication in the last three months are shown in the list below (newest first). The website checks for new decisions daily and updates the list accordingly. For full lists per year, please access the subpages.
May 2025
Einspruchsgründe - unzulässige Erweiterung (nein)
Änderung nach Ladung - außergewöhnliche Umstände (nein)
Erfinderische Tätigkeit - (ja)
Inventive step - (no)
Amendment to case - amendment overcomes objection (no)
Amendment after notification of Art. 15(1) RPBA communication - exceptional circumstances (no)
Amendments - allowable (yes)
Claims - clarity (yes)
Novelty - (yes)
Inventive step - (yes)
Amendment after summons - exceptional circumstances (yes)
Amendment after summons - exercise of discretion
Amendment after summons - taken into account (yes)
Decision in written proceedings - (yes): proprietor did not request oral proceedings and oral proceedings neither necessary nor expedient
Added subject-matter - claim 1 as maintained by the opposition division (yes): unallowable generalisation
Claim interpretation - opponent's view not followed
Grounds for opposition - added subject-matter (no)
Minutes of oral proceedings - request for correction of minutes
Amendments - allowable (yes)
Claims - clarity (yes)
Novelty - (yes)
Inventive step - (yes)
1. The admittance of a substantively identical request in post-remittal proceedings is not excluded pursuant to Article 111(2) EPC if the facts underlying the Board's earlier decision for not admitting that request are not the same because a new objection was introduced in post-remittal proceedings (see 2.4).
2. When exercising the discretion to admit a party's request in post-remittal proceedings, the opposition division must take into account the framework defined in the appeal proceedings (see 2.5.1), as the prosecution of a case after remittal should in principle build upon the situation that existed at the end of the appeal proceedings that led to the remittal (see 2.5.2).
Inventive step - ex post facto analysis
Inventive step - non-obvious combination of known features
Inventive step - main request (yes)
Appeal decision - binding effect of appeal decision
Amendment to case - objection
Amendment to case - suitability of amendment to address issues (no)
Late-filed objection - admitted (no)
Inventive step - main request (no)
Inventive step - auxiliary request (no)
Inventive step - auxiliary request (yes)
Amendments - allowable (yes)
Late-filed evidence - should have been submitted in first-instance proceedings (no)
Late-filed evidence - admitted (yes)
Late-filed request - circumstances of appeal case justify admittance (yes)