In accordance with Article 112(1)(a) EPC, Technical Board of Appeal 3.5.03 referred the following points of law to the Enlarged Board of Appeal by its inter- locutory decision of 17 June 2010 in case T 1145/09:

1. Is a patent proprietor's request for correction of the grant decision under Rule 140 EPC which was filed after the initiation of opposition proceedings admissible? In particular, should the absence of a time limit in Rule 140 EPC be interpreted such that a correction under Rule 140 EPC of errors in deci- sions can be made at any time?

2. If such a request is considered to be admissible, does the examining division have to decide on this request in ex parte proceedings in a binding manner so that the opposition division is precluded from examining whether the correction decision amounts to an unal- lowable amendment of the granted patent?

The text of the referral is available in English on the EPO website under www. epo.org/patents/appeals/eba-decisions/ referrals/pending.html.

The Enlarged Board of Appeal consider- ing the referral will be composed as follows: P. Messerli (Chairman), C. Rennie-Smith, P. Alting van Geusau, B. Gnzel, B. Schachenmann, J.-P. Seitz, R. Young.

Third parties are hereby given the oppor- tunity to file written statements in accord- ance with Article 10 of the Rules of Pro- cedure of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (OJ EPO 2007, 303 ff) in one of the offi- cial languages of the EPO (English, French or German).

To ensure that such statements can be given due consideration they should be filed by the end of October 2010 with the Registry of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, quoting case number G 1/10.

Each statement should also be accom- panied by a list of cited documents and copies of any such documents not previously filed.

References: r140;