The European Patent Office’s (EPO) highest judicial body, the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA), has released its order in the case G1/21. The EBoA had been asked to rule on the legality of the use of videoconferences in EPO oral proceedings before the boards of appeal, where not all the parties had consented to it.
The EBoA’s order reads as follows: “During a general emergency impairing the parties’ possibilities to attend in-person oral proceedings at the EPO premises, the conduct of oral proceedings before the boards of appeal in the form of a videoconference is compatible with the European Patent Convention even if not all of the parties to the proceedings have given their consent to the conduct of oral proceedings in the form of a videoconference.”
If you don't have a login or your access has expired, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content.
For more information on individual annual subscriptions for full paid access and corporate subscription options please contact us.
To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk
6 July 2021 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.
11 March 2021 Computer-implemented simulations are patentable but the applicant must show that the invention addresses a technical issue, the European Patent Office has determined.