| European Case Law Identifier: | ECLI:EP:BA:2003:T071199.20031021 | ||||||||
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| Date of decision: | 21 October 2003 | ||||||||
| Case number: | T 0711/99 | ||||||||
| Application number: | 94402525.3 | ||||||||
| IPC class: | A61K 7/13 | ||||||||
| Language of proceedings: | FR | ||||||||
| Distribution: | A | ||||||||
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| Title of application: | - | ||||||||
| Applicant name: | L'OREAL | ||||||||
| Opponent name: | Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft Wella AG Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | ||||||||
| Board: | 3.3.07 | ||||||||
| Headnote: | I. The opponent does not have the right to dispose freely of his status as a party, following the general principle of law whereby legal actions are not transferable by way of singular succession - whether for a consideration or not - but only by way of universal succession (point 2.1.5(b)). Once he has filed an opposition and met the requirements for an admissible opposition, he is an opponent and remains so until the end of the proceedings or of his involvement in them. II. Opponent status may be transferred to a singular successor when a commercial department is sold, but this is an exception to the general principle in law whereby an opposition is not freely disposable. III. This exception should be a narrowly interpretated (point 2.1.5(c)) and precludes an opponent parent company from being recognised, in the event of the sale of a subsidiary that has always been entitled itself to file oppositions, as having the right to transfer its opponent status, by analogy with an opponent who sells a commercial department that is an inseparable part of the opposition but is not itself entitled to file oppositions (point 2.1.5(f)). The notion of legitimate interest in the proceedings, which is irrelevant for the admissibility of an opposition at the time of its filing, likewise has no bearing on the opponent's status at any subsequent stage (point 2.1.5(d)). |
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| Keywords: | Transfer of opposition (no) Amendments - admissible (yes) Novelty vis-Ã -vis documents referred to in notice of opposition (yes) New evidence: public prior use - late (yes) - relevant (no); new document - late (yes) - relevant (yes) Remittal (yes) |
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Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t990711ep1.html
Date retrieved: 17 May 2021
20 references found.
Click X to load a reference inside the current page, click on the title to open in a new page.Offical Journal of the EPO
XOJ EPO SE 1/2021, p179 - Annex 1 - Index of published decisions of the boards of appeal and the Enlarged Board of Appeal - (as at 31 December 2020)
XOJ EPO SE 1/2020, p174 - Annex 1 - Index of published decisions of the boards of appeal and the Enlarged Board of Appeal - (as at 31 December 2019)
XOJ EPO SE 1/2019, p158 - XVI. - Index of published decisions of the boards of appeal and the Enlarged Board of Appeal - (as at 31 December 2018)