T 0095/83 - Late-filed requests - #75

Citation rank: 75
No. of citations: 65

T 95/83 is one of the very early appeal cases in which  the question of late filing of requests was addressed. In the underlying opposition-appeal, the proprietor filed a second auxiliary request only at the beginning of the oral proceedings. The opponent requested that the second auxiliary request should not be admitted, or at least the oral proceedings should be postponed.

The Board observed that requests should be filed at the earliest possible moment and that admittance of requests filed as late as at the beginning of oral proceedings would only happen in very exceptional cases.

In the case at hand, the late-filed request was not admitted.

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Headnote:

If an applicant for a patent or a patentee desires to submit amendments to the description, claims or drawings of a European patent application or a European patent in the course of appeal proceedings, this should be done at the earliest possible moment (OJ EPO 6/1981, 176; 8/1984, 376). It is only in the most exceptional circumstances, where there is some clear justification both for the amendment and for its late submission, that it is likely that an amendment not submitted in good time before oral proceedings will be considered on its merits in those proceedings by a Board of Appeal.

The full text of the decision can be accessed here.