4.2. General authorisations

This subsection deals inter alia with the extent of the powers conferred.

In J 9/99 (OJ 2004, 309) the board decided that the Legal Division had authority to check the authorisation of a representative named in a general authorisation and to issue a formal decision to reject the registration of a general authorisation. A decision not to register a general authorisation can only be issued in respect of a request from a party to the proceedings within the meaning of R. 101(2) EPC 1973, i.e. either an authorising or an authorised party.

In J 11/93 the applicant submitted in his statement of grounds of appeal that the official communication should have been sent to the authorised European representative since he had been duly empowered to act on behalf of the applicant by a general authorisation filed with the EPO in respect of another European patent application. Instead of this the communication was sent directly to the applicant, a US company. The board confirmed that the authorisation in suit had never been registered by the EPO as being a general one, and that even if it had been so registered it would then have been incumbent on the applicant to communicate the number allotted to the general authorisation so that the Receiving Section could take it into consideration before sending the communication to the applicant at its last known address, rather than to the representative. Under these circumstances the board considered that when the letter sent directly to the applicant was issued no European professional representative had yet been appointed by the applicant.

In J 17/98 (OJ 2000, 399) the Legal Board of Appeal had to rule on whether communications concerning the deemed withdrawal of applications had been correctly notified to the applicants, who were residents of a non-EPC contracting state, even though general authorisations were held by the EPO on their behalf. The applicants argued that the communications relating to deemed withdrawal should in fact have been notified to the representatives appearing in the general authorisations on file with the EPO. The board held that the filing of a general authorisation to act on behalf of a specific applicant and the notification of the appointment of a representative in an individual application were two separate procedural acts. By definition, general authorisations did not refer to specific cases and did not allow the EPO to assume, without further information from the applicant, that a specific representative had been appointed in a particular case. From the Convention it was clear that the filing of a general authorisation did not imply the appointment of a professional representative in a specific case (see also chapter III.S.2. "Notification to representatives").

In J 1/04, the relevant question in this case was whether the notifications of the communications were correctly addressed to the appellant. The appellant criticised the EPO's practice of sending communications directly to the applicant, even if the latter had appointed a national representative in the international phase. The board pointed out that an authorisation for the international phase did not comprise an authorisation for the European phase and that disregard thereof could lead to a loss of rights. Furthermore, as long as the applicant did not appoint a representative who was entitled to represent him before the EPO, the general principle applied that procedural acts had to be performed by the EPO in relation to the registered applicant as being the party to the proceedings. Thus, notifications had to be addressed to the registered applicant and they had been correctly made if they were addressed to the applicant (appellant) in the case at issue. The appeal was dismissed.

In T 1865/07, the board noted that, in the circumstances of the case, giving an incorrect general authorisation number was of no consequence.