2. Scope of Rule 140 EPC

According to the wording of R. 140 EPC, in EPO decisions, only linguistic errors, errors of transcription and obvious mistakes may be corrected. R. 140 EPC (formerly R. 89 EPC 1973) applies to both decisions of the Boards of Appeal and those of first-instance departments. Following G 1/10 (OJ 2013, 194) R. 140 EPC no longer covers the correction of the text of a patent. Neither is it applicable for the correction of legal errors, irrespective of whether they concern substantive or procedural aspects (G 1/97, OJ 2000, 322). This leaves only errors in bibliographic data contained in the decision to grant or formatting/editing errors during the preparation of the Druckexemplar (as well as printing errors in the publication of the granted patent) to fall under R. 140 EPC (Guidelines H‑VI, 3.1 – March 2022 version).

Correction of errors in decisions must be distinguished from correction of errors in documents filed by the applicant (or patentee) which falls under R. 139 EPC.