In accordance with Article 112(1)(a) EPC, Technical Board of Appeal 3.3.08 referred the following point of law to the Enlarged Board of Appeal by its inter- locutory decision of 25 June 2010 in case T 1068/07:

"Does a disclaimer infringe Article 123(2) EPC if its subject-matter was disclosed as an embodiment of the invention in the application as filed?"

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

The Enlarged Board of Appeal consid- ering the referral will be composed as follows: P. Messerli (CH) (Chairman), B. Gnzel (DE), P. Alting van Geusau (NL), B. Schachenmann (CH), J.-P. Seitz (FR), A. Wirn (FI), R. Young (GB).

Third parties are hereby given the opportunity to file written statements in accordance with Article 10 of the Rules of Procedure of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (OJ EPO 2007, 303 ff) in one of the official 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 December 2010 with the Registry of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, quoting case number G 2/10.

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

References: ar123;