3.1.4 No obligation to postpone a decision to allow the filing of a divisional application

In T 1184/03 the appellant requested during the oral proceedings before the board that the delivery of the decision be postponed with a view to filing a divisional application. Since the case was ready to be decided at the oral proceedings, the board held that postponing the decision of the board to allow the filing of a divisional application would run counter to the public interest in having the matter decided as expeditiously as possible, because the matter ready to be finally decided by this board would be pending again. See also T 592/15, in which the board observed that requests forcing a board to examine questions outside of the framework of the given appeal were not admissible (T 502/02). Thus, the board refused the applicant's request that the "application be maintained pending until [a] divisional application has been filed".

In T 591/05 the applicant had declared during the examination proceedings that he reserved the right to file a divisional application. The board found that this declaration created no obligation for the examining division to check the status of any possible divisional application or to postpone the grant of the patent. It was incumbent on the applicant to undertake the appropriate measures to ensure that any possible divisional application was filed in due time before the grant procedure was closed.