2.5.2 Question already pending before the Enlarged Board

In T 208/88 of 20 July 1988 date: 1988-07-20 the board referred a question already pending once again to the Enlarged Board, because new aspects had emerged which it deemed useful for the Enlarged Board's decision. The same questions, supplemented by an additional question, were also referred again in J 15/90 of 4 September 1992 date: 1992-09-04 (see also T 83/05 of 8 July 2013 date: 2013-07-08), because the board wished to give the Enlarged Board the opportunity to consider another type of case. In T 803/93 date: 1995-07-19 (OJ 1996, 204) the board complemented the questions already pending and said that important questions of law should, if possible, be considered in the context of proceedings involving parties having opposing interests in relation to these questions. In T 184/91 of 25 October 1991 date: 1991-10-25 the President of the EPO had referred questions to the Enlarged Board. The board referred the already pending questions again, stating that nothing prevented a board from reiterating questions that are pending, in order that the parties to an appeal may enjoy being parties to the proceedings before the Enlarged Board. In T 1553/13 of 20 February 2014 date: 2014-02-20 and T 2017/12 of 24 February 2014 two different technical boards referred an almost identical question to the Enlarged Board.