EPO’s G1 /21 videoconf hearing ends on a cliffhanger

06-07-2021

Douglas Drysdale and Ellie Purnell

EPO’s G1 /21 videoconf hearing ends on a cliffhanger

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Last week’s European Patent Office hearing into the legality of oral proceedings by video conference faced technical issues of its own, as Douglas Drysdale and Ellie Purnell of HGF discovered.

The second round of oral proceedings in case G1/21, held on Friday 2 July, have concluded, but European Patent Office (EPO) users and interested parties around the world will have to wait for the decision in writing to find out the result.

The chair of the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) announced in the early afternoon that the board had heard enough from both the appellant and the representatives for the president of the EPO to deliberate the matter and take a decision in due course.

This is not unusual for the EBA, but certainly frustrating for the many who tuned in to watch the live stream of the hearing.


Patents, Europe, European Patent Office, Enlarged Board of Appeal

WIPR