According to Art 12 para 4 RPBA, the entire statement of grounds of appeal must be taken into account if and insofar as it relates to the case under appeal and is sufficiently substantiated. Under this provision,…
Read more →Decisions of the BoA become legally binding as soon as issued ("res iudicata"); from this it follows that the rights of the parties and of the persons which are in a legal relationship with the parties with regard to a…
Read more →Jun 6, 2018
Although the letters and communications to the party to the proceedings were available to the public by way of electronic file inspection, parties to the proceedings must be able to rely on the EPO complying with the…
Read more →For reasons of consistency, the rationale of decision G 1/15 (concept of partial priority) must also apply in the context of deciding whether an application from which priority is claimed is thefirst applicationwithin…
Read more →For an opponent not to be adversely affected, the case law demands that the opponent has agreed to the maintenance of the patent in the corresponding version. As it follows from the context of the procedural provisions…
Read more →May 16, 2018
The text on the basis of which the application is granted or the patent is maintained in a decision or an interlocutory decision must be the one submitted or approved by the applicant or patent proprietor within the…
Read more →The publication date of a citation prior to the priority date may permissibly be contested by the patent proprietor if there are contradictory indications of the publication date (in the specific case in relation to a…
Read more →Whether an opponent can be regarded as a legal entity in an ongoing opposition appeal proceedings and can validly act in these proceedings is a matter of the national law of the state where the opponent is incorporated…
Read more →Apr 30, 2018
The applicant applied for a patent under the title "anti snoring baloon". The application contained no (patent) claims only a description and a test report. The description mentioned the desired properties of the…
Read more →Apr 25, 2018
In order to assess whether a claim amended by the introduction of an undisclosed disclaimer is allowable under Art 123(2) EPC, the disclaimer must meet one of the criteria set out in point 2.1 of decision G 1/03. The…
Read more →Apr 19, 2018
Atypical forms of employment such as temporary employment (temporary agency work, labour leasing) are becoming more and more widespread, even in research-intensive companies. However, the regulations relating to service…
Read more →Pursuant to Art. 13 RPBA, it is at the discretion of the BoA whether auxiliary requests are admitted to the proceedings after the statement of grounds of appeal or after the reply. Since, in the preliminary opinion…
Read more →Mar 16, 2018
We are proud to announce that Sonn & Partner on basis of an international survey was voted to be the Austrian “Firm of the Year” by the renowned international professional journal Managing Intellectual Property (MIP).…
Read more →Mar 14, 2018
If the opponent asserts a public prior use in the opposition proceedings at a late stage, there are good reasons not to differentiate in the admission decision between whether the opponent has conceded deliberately…
Read more →An interpretation of a patent claim mutually agreed upon by the parties to the proceedings is not binding on the BoA. The principle of disposition is not to be understood in such a way that the parties to the…
Read more →The essentiality test developed in decision T 331/87 on the question of whether the subject matter of the claim extends beyond the content of the application as originally filed when replacing or deleting a claim…
Read more →The burden of proof for legally valid priority succession lies with the applicant/patent holder. Evidence is subject to the BoA's free evaluation, whereby "beyond reasonable doubt" (and not "balance of probabilities")…
Read more →Feb 15, 2018
If, for the first time in the contested decision a document is cited which in view of the patent office anticipates the claimed subject without giving the applicant the opportunity to comment on it beforehand, the…
Read more →Dec 22, 2017
EU member states all have to amend their trade mark laws in adoption to the new EU Trade Mark Directive until beginning of 2019. Austria has now passed an amendment of its trade mark law, on the one side, to accelerate…
Read more →Dec 11, 2017
Our Christmas donation 2017 was given to “Kinderhospiz Netz” and “Hilfswerk Österreich”. "Kinderhospiz Netz" enables the comprehensive care of seriously ill and life-limiting children and youth at home in their usual…
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