T 0830/90 (Secrecy agreement) of 23.7.1993

European Case Law Identifier: ECLI:EP:BA:1993:T083090.19930723
Date of decision: 23 July 1993
Case number: T 0830/90
Application number: 85104769.6
IPC class: B63B 11/02
Language of proceedings: DE
Distribution:
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Documentation of the appeal procedure can be found in the Register
Bibliographic information is available in: DE | EN | FR
Versions: OJ
Title of application: -
Applicant name: Macor Marine Systems
Opponent name: Kvaerner Brug
Board: 3.2.01
Headnote: 1. A secrecy agreement which rules out availability to the public does not necessarily have to be a contract made in writing.
2. The content of a business meeting is not deemed to have been made available to the public within the meaning of Article 54(2) EPC if the parties concerned understood it to be secret and no breach of secrecy has been established.
3. An understanding of this kind may be reached at a business meeting in the context of a joint technical development if the parties are assumed to have parallel interests and if there is a secrecy proviso agreed verbally and based on a stamp on a drawing.
Relevant legal provisions:
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 54(2)
European Patent Convention 1973 Art 114(1)
Keywords: Novelty (yes)
Prior public use
Availability to the public ruled out by secrecy agreement between business partners (yes)
Inventive step (yes)
Board's limited duty to examine on the withdrawal of one of the parties from the proceedings
Catchwords:

-

Cited decisions:
-
Citing decisions:
T 0602/91
T 0634/91
T 0818/93
T 0041/94
T 0077/94
T 0377/95
T 0809/95
T 0901/95
T 0865/96
T 0212/97
T 0414/97
T 0563/97
T 0838/97
T 0394/99
T 0947/99
T 0469/00
T 0508/00
T 0913/01
T 0205/03
T 1464/05
T 1510/06
T 1511/06
T 1512/06
T 1513/06
T 1947/07
T 0002/09
T 0202/13
T 2037/18

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