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A.101 EPC Examination of the opposition – Revocation or maintenance of the European patent

(1)

If the opposition is admissible, the Opposition Division shall examine, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations, whether at least one ground for opposition under Article 100 prejudices the maintenance of the European patent. During this examination, the Opposition Division shall invite the parties, as often as necessary, to file observations on communications from another party or issued by itself.

(2)

If the Opposition Division is of the opinion that at least one ground for opposition prejudices the maintenance of the European patent, it shall revoke the patent. Otherwise, it shall reject the opposition.

If the Opposition Division is of the opinion that, taking into consideration the amendments made by the proprietor of the European patent during the opposition proceedings, the patent and the invention to which it relates

(a)

meet the requirements of this Convention, it shall decide to maintain the patent as amended, provided that the conditions laid down in the Implementing Regulations are fulfilled;

(b)

do not meet the requirements of this Convention, it shall revoke the patent.

[ Art. 65 68 103 R. 18 77 86 111 113 138 140 143 ]

Amended by the Act revising the European Patent Convention of 29.11.2000.

See decisions/opinions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal G 1/88, G 1/90, G 1/91, G 9/91, G 10/91, G 9/92, G 4/93, G 1/99, G 1/02 (Annex I).

See decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal G 3/14 (Annex I).

Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/epc/2016/e/ar101.html

Date retrieved: 17 May 2021

112 references found.

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EPC Articles

X Part V Opposition and limitation procedure

X A.65 EPC Translation of the European patent

X A.68 EPC Effect of revocation or limitation of the European patent

X A.100 EPC Grounds for opposition

X A.103 EPC Publication of a new specification of the European patent

EPC Implementing Rules

X R.18 EPC Partial transfer of the right to the European patent

X R.77 EPC Rejection of the opposition as inadmissible

X R.78 EPC Procedure where the proprietor of the patent is not entitled

X R.79 EPC Preparation of the examination of the opposition

X R.80 EPC Amendment of the European patent

X R.81 EPC Examination of opposition

X R.82 EPC Maintenance of the European patent in amended form

X R.83 EPC Request for documents

X R.84 EPC Continuation of the opposition proceedings by the European Patent Office of its own motion

X R.86 EPC Documents in opposition proceedings

X R.111 EPC Form of decisions

X R.113 EPC Signature, name, seal

X R.138 EPC Different claims, description and drawings for different States

X R.140 EPC Correction of errors in decisions

X R.143 EPC Entries in the European Patent Register

EPO Guidelines - D Opposition and Limitation/Revocation Procedures

X GL D IV 4 Termination of opposition proceedings in the event of inadmissible opposition

X GL D V 1 Beginning of the examination of the opposition

X GL D V 5 Clarity of claims

X GL D VI 3.1 Opposition division's communications

X GL D VI 3.2 Summons to oral proceedings

X GL D VI 7.2.1 Procedural requirements

X GL D VI 7.2.3 Request for publishing fee, translations and a formally compliant version of amended text passages

X GL D VIII 1.2.1 Revocation on substantive grounds

X GL D VIII 1.2.5 Revocation of the patent in the event that the patent proprietor no longer wishes the patent to be maintained as granted

X GL D VIII 1.3 Rejection of the opposition

X GL D VIII 1.4.1 Taking of a final decision

EPO Guidelines - E General Procedural Matters

X GL E III 2 Oral proceedings at the request of a party

X GL E III 8.3.3.1 General

X GL E VIII 1.6.1 Extension of time limits set by the EPO under Rule 132

EPO Guidelines - H Amendments and Corrections

X GL H VI 3.3 Correction of errors under Rule 140 while opposition proceedings are pending – procedural aspects

Offical Journal of the EPO

X OJ EPO SE 4/2020, p62 - IV. PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE DEPARTMENTS OF FIRST INSTANCE

X OJ EPO SE 3/2018, p2 - BOARDS OF APPEAL AND ENLARGED BOARD OF APPEAL CASE LAW 2017

X OJ EPO SE 4/2017, p2 - BOARD OF APPEAL AND ENLARGED BOARD OF APPEAL CASE LAW 2015/2016

X OJ EPO 2017, A15 - Decision of Technical Board of Appeal 3.2.07 dated 27 July 2016 T 1691/15

X OJ EPO 2008, 221 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 17 March 2008 concerning acceler- ated processing of opposi- tions where infringement proceedings have been instituted1

Case Law Book: II Conditions to be met by an Application

X CLR II A 1.4 The examination of clarity in opposition proceedings

X CLR II B 3.4 No assessment of lack of unity in opposition proceedings

X CLR II F 2.3.2 Ground for opposition under Article 100(c) EPC

Case Law Book: III Amendments

X CLR III E 3.4 Loss of rights as a direct consequence by virtue of the EPC

Case Law Book: IV Divisional Applications

X CLR IV C 2.2.6 Statement of extent of opposition

X CLR IV C 2.2.7 Statement of grounds for opposition

X CLR IV C 3.2 Extent of opposition

X CLR IV C 3.3 Scope of examination of grounds for opposition

X CLR IV C 3.4.3 Grounds raised against amended claims

X CLR IV C 3.4.6 Opportunity to comment on new grounds for opposition

X CLR IV C 5.1.4 Amending a non-opposed sub-claim

X CLR IV C 5.2.1 General

X CLR IV C 5.2.2 Extent of power to examine amended claims for compliance with Article 84 EPC

X CLR IV C 6.2 Invitation to file observations under Article 101(1) EPC

X CLR IV C 6.4 EPO communication concerning submissions by the other party – adequate opportunity to reply

X CLR IV C 8.1 Revocation of a European patent for failure to fulfil formal requirements – by way of decision

X CLR IV C 8.2.2 Maintenance of European patent as amended

Case Law Book: V Priority

X CLR V A 2.6.3.F Objection not raised at first instance

Case Law of the Enlarged Board

X G 0001/88 (Opponent's silence) of 27.1.1989

X G 0001/90 (Revocation of the Patent) of 5.3.1991

X G 0001/91 (Unity) of 9.12.1991

X G 0009/91 (Power to examine) of 31.3.1993

X G 0010/91 (Examination of opposition/appeals) of 31.3.1993

X G 0009/92 (Non-appealing party) of 14.7.1994

X G 0004/93 (Non-appealing party) of 14.7.1994

X G 0001/99 (Reformatio in peius / 3M) of 2.4.2001

X G 0001/02 (Formalities officers' powers) of 22.1.2003

X G 0003/14 () of 24.3.2015

General Case Law

X R 0006/17 (Petition partially clearly inadmissible and partially clearly … of 28.5.2018

X T 0941/04 () of 26.2.2008

X T 0700/05 () of 18.9.2008

X T 1459/05 () of 21.2.2008

X T 0307/06 (Coating compositions/PPG) of 16.9.2008

X T 0385/06 () of 6.3.2008

X T 1526/06 (Teriparatide solutions/ELI LILLY) of 11.7.2008

X T 1753/06 (tert-butylamine du perindopril/LABORATOIRES SERVIER) of 6.5.2009

X T 0061/07 () of 19.8.2008

X T 0079/07 () of 24.6.2008

X T 1610/07 (Porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome virus/INTERVET) of 14.4.2011

X T 1668/07 () of 27.10.2011

X T 0725/08 (Organic Pigment/SUN) of 16.7.2010

X T 1194/08 () of 22.6.2011

X T 1196/08 () of 10.11.2010

X T 0459/09 () of 13.12.2012

X T 0727/09 () of 6.11.2013

X T 0903/09 (Curable compositions/THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY) of 7.9.2011

X T 1397/09 () of 18.9.2012

X T 2298/09 () of 16.5.2013

X T 0241/10 () of 7.5.2014

X T 2106/10 (Tenascin binding to fibronectin/Novartis Forschungsstiftung) of 4.2.2014

X T 0038/11 (Synergistic biocides/SOLENIS TECHNOLOGIES CAYMAN L.P.) of 21.5.2015

X T 0433/11 (ErkÃ¤ltungskrankheiten/PANDALIS) of 24.5.2012

X T 0373/12 (Examination of clarity of amended claims by opposition divisions and … of 2.4.2014

X T 0796/12 () of 26.10.2017

X T 0863/12 (EdelmetallprÃ¤parate/Heraeus) of 23.9.2015

X T 1216/12 () of 14.12.2017

X T 1440/12 () of 27.6.2017

X T 2177/12 () of 24.7.2013

X T 2301/12 () of 22.11.2017

X T 2405/12 () of 11.5.2016

X T 0360/13 () of 20.3.2018

X T 0793/13 () of 21.3.2017

X T 0801/13 () of 27.2.2014

X T 0066/14 (Behandlung von biologischen AbfÃ¤llen/FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT) of 15.11.2016

X T 0203/14 () of 28.11.2016

X T 0228/14 (Distribution and use of digital works/CONTENTGUARD) of 24.3.2017

X T 1101/14 (Inadmissible appeal/PIKSEL) of 12.12.2014

X T 1668/14 () of 19.4.2018

X T 0393/15 (Temperiertes Batteriesystem/LI-TEC) of 17.3.2017

X T 0500/15 () of 25.6.2018

X T 2311/15 (Batteriepack/BOSCH) of 23.1.2018

X T 0623/18 (Admissibility of the opposition/ABB) of 7.1.2019