4.5.8 New facts, objections, arguments and evidence filed – no exceptional circumstances established
In T 187/18 the board first noted that the appellant's (opponent's) new line of attack against claim 1 based on a new combination of documents was a change to its case. It then recalled that, according to Art. 13(2) RPBA 2020, exceptional circumstances justified by cogent reasons were required and that therefore alleged prima facie relevance was not per se a consideration. Since the appellant did not identify any special reasons for the amendment to its case, the board did not admit this new line of attack into the proceedings. See also T 917/18 (summarised in chapter V.A.4.5.8h))
- T 574/17
Catchword:
If there is an amendment to the patent in the appeal proceedings which has never been examined before, the Enlarged Board's obiter dictum in G 10/91, Reasons 19, is fully respected when only the prima facie relevance of an objection under Article 123(2) EPC is considered in the context of assessing whether there are exceptional circumstances under Article 13(2) RPBA 2020 (Reasons 2.3.1-2.3.14).
- 2023 compilation “Abstracts of decisions”
- Annual report: case law 2022
- Summaries of decisions in the language of the proceedings