2. Protocol on Recognition

In J 14/19 (stay of proceedings for grant – time from when national proceedings pending) the Legal Board noted that, in accordance with Art. 9(2) of the Protocol on Recognition, the jurisdiction of the (national) court whose decision on the right to the grant of a European patent was to be recognised, and the validity of such decision, could not be reviewed. Although primarily addressing the contracting states of the EPC, the Protocol on Recognition was an integral part of the EPC according to Art. 164(1) EPC and thus also binding on the EPO (see J 36/97 and, for the duty to recognise, R. 16(2) EPC). The EPO's scope for examining the full statement of the claim (for the purposes of applying R. 14(1) EPC and Art. 61(1) EPC) was also limited: substantive examination of a claim was the preserve of the national court under the Protocol on Recognition and the EPO had no authority in this regard (see G 3/92).