5.13.3 Complexity of new subject-matter

Some boards have held that new submissions should normally be disregarded if the complexity of the technical or legal issues raised is such that clearly neither the board nor the other party can expected to deal with them without adjournment of the oral proceedings. Complex fresh subject-matter filed at short notice before or during oral proceedings runs the risk of being not admitted to the proceedings without any consideration of its relevance or allowability (see T 633/97, T 1050/00, T 1213/05).

A more recent case in point is T 1914/15. The board there did not admit a new line of defence put forward by the patent proprietor, as it raised complex new issues which had not previously been addressed during the written proceedings and had been submitted at the latest possible procedural stage, namely at the oral proceedings (Art. 13(1) and (3) RPBA 2007).

In T 1044/04 the board stated that the late-filed document was a relatively short document which did not raise further complex substantive questions with regard to technical or legal issues complicating the appeal proceedings. Thus the board decided to admit the late-filed document D6 into the appeal proceedings (see T 633/97, T 787/00).