The possibility to oppose a European patent after expiry of the opposition period is governed by Article 105 of the European Patent Convention.
In a brand new decision 1713/11 given by the European Patent Office’s (EPO’s) Board of Appeal on April 25, 2013 to revoke an EP, the board comments on some legal actions as the qualifying basis for filing an admissible intervention in pending EPO opposition proceedings.
In the present case the legal provision on which the intervention was based was the first scenario of Article 105 EPC: ‘proceedings for infringement’.
The actual legal proceeding was a Privatanklage raised on behalf of the patent proprietor/patentee by the exclusive licensee of an EP valid for Austria against the intervener before the Landesgericht für Strafsachen Wien (the regional court of Vienna). The Privatanklage alleged a wilful infringement of the EP but was dismissed as manifestly flawed.
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EPO, EPC, European Patent, IP, board of appeal
